


Chrysalis

by ghostlily34



Series: Kousaten-hen: Intersection Chapter [2]
Category: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Ash's dad, Crossover, No Pokémon, Series: Best Wishes, Suspense, Tragedy, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23099803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlily34/pseuds/ghostlily34
Summary: Ash is struck with a vision of destruction threatening to befall the town of Hinamizawa, his father’s resting place and the hometown of his childhood friends. He is drawn to return to it, yet he hesitates; he cannot remember anything or anyone from that town, as if his memory had been wiped completely. Unknown to him, Rika has also been a victim of this terrible vision, and her path crosses with Ash’s once again. They must stand against the calamity and transcend it, or Hinamizawa will perish. Kousaten-hen universe.
Series: Kousaten-hen: Intersection Chapter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660297
Kudos: 3





	1. Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! You should probably read "Presage" before you read this, but it's not required reading! It just gives you a hint of what is to come. Expect some lore changes for the story's sake, hints of AshRika, and some other weird stuff. Kudos and comments are appreciated, of course. <3
> 
> Ages are as follows:
> 
> Ash Katou - 12 years old  
> Iris Kingsberry - 13 years old  
> Cilan Greyson - 14 years old

The hoary moonlight was leaving bright speckles across the ground, slicing through the leaves above like a knife. The air was cold, lazily floating in the air around him as he moved forward. Ash paid it no mind, however; he was more focused on trying to figure out where he was and how he came here, rather than the weather around him.The lack of light made seeing his surroundings difficult, and he had to guess by outlines as he moved forward.

His discomfort was beetling. He could not hear his own footsteps, and the silence of the mysterious woods made his hair stand on end. His memory was popping unsteadily like a faulty firework, the hint of deja vu flickering and disappearing in bright hues of nostalgia, and the longer he walked the louder it resounded in his head. Ash felt like this place was familiar to him, but in the haze of his uneasiness he struggled to place it. 

There was an opening up ahead, nestled between some large tree trunks. Relieved, Ash quickened his pace to squeeze through them, hoping maybe to find a road or a city so he could ask for directions.  _ There’s oughta be someone here, right? _ Ash prayed,  _ Please, I need to get out of here so I can find my way back home… _

When he dove through the trees, he was only met with disappointment. He was at the end of a cliff that dipped deep into the inky unknown, and the steepness made it impossible to climb down. Ash squinted, unable to see any hand or footholds on its edge when he looked down. He sighed, frustrated now, and allowed his gaze to sweep upward and ahead to what he could’ve proceeded to.

He froze. His heart began to clamor as the firecracker in his head exploded into lights that flared up wildly behind his eyes. What he saw up ahead both shocked and confused him.

_ Hinamizawa? _

Ash didn’t understand. Wasn’t he at home, with his family and friends safely tucked away? Why was he gawking directly at a town he hadn’t seen in years? What had driven him to stumble through the woods to find this place?

He wanted to get closer. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, and perhaps he was too far away to be sure whether it was Hinamizawa or not. He leaned forward, and before he could readjust his eyes his feet slipped underneath him. For a split second he was motionless, before he began to violently tumble down the crevice. He opened his mouth to cry out, but not a single sound escaped his lips, much to his shock and horror. Frightened, he closed his eyes to brace himself for pain, rocks, impact.

They never came.

When Ash opened his eyes again, he was floating. All he could see above him was the sky. It was being ripped in two, torn like a piece of paper, by a deep purple light whose luminosity was absolutely unbearable. Ash winced at this and tried to turn his head away from the agonizing brightness. To his dismay, it seemed to only grow in power.

It was growing closer, and the closer it got Ash saw the fire reaching its hands out from its core. He gasped and attempted to pull himself away before it hit him, this dazzlingly dangerous force hurling towards him at full speed, but he was immobilized. It was as if invisible ropes were bound to his limbs and stretching his arms in opposite directions. 

Ash started to scream again, but once again not a sound was uttered. His voice had perhaps fled at the sight of Hinamizawa, or this meteorite, or he had left it at home. He wished he had brought it to at least make his heart’s erratic beating feel less out of place. Screaming would release this built-up panic.

It was taking over most of his vision now. His entire body was washed in an agonizing heat, perhaps from this light, and Ash struggled more vigorously now. He was terrified of this strange light, this strange place, this strange sensation of premonition and dread. The surges of terror through his body were strong enough to make him feel nauseous. He wanted to throw up, but he learned that his mouth no longer opened. His heart beat even faster, threatening to rupture and break into pieces from the fear.

When he thought the light was going to swallow him whole with its incalescence, he blinked and found himself jolting awake in bed. A scream reverberated in his closed mouth, and immediately his hands rushed up to block the sound. The return of movement was a relief to him, and he repressed the urge to cry from joy.

He was back in his bedroom; he knew he should’ve been still at home. The room was dark but the immediate familiarity of it brought comfort to Ash. The sports posters and stuffed animals were still intact, and before Ash could verify anything else he jumped at the sound of the bedroom door opening.

His mother was standing at the entrance, her face contorted with worry, “Ash, sweetie, I heard you scream, is everything okay?”

She was keeping her voice at barely a whisper, as to not wake up anyone else in the house. Ash appreciated it, not wanting to worry Cilan or Iris who were asleep in the living room. He wanted to tell her he was fine to not cause her any more trouble, but speaking was difficult. His lips quivered at the effort.

His mother came to his bedside and rubbed his back sympathetically, “Was it a scary dream?” she murmured.

Ash nodded slowly, removing his hands from his mouth, “Y… Yeah. Yeah, that’s all it was, I guess. It just felt really real.”

“Would it help to talk about it?” she asked.

“W-Well…” Ash started, but found the words hard to find, “I don’t really… know how to describe it. I know I was looking at Hinamizawa, and I fell? Everything else is kind of blurry…”

“Hinamizawa?” his mother echoed, “I haven’t thought of that town in a while. You used to go there when you would see your father, you just haven’t been there since he, ah… since he passed.”

“Y-Yeah.” Ash nodded, feeling guilty suddenly for mentioning it, “I haven’t thought of it either, I’m not sure why I saw it…”

“Maybe it’s a sign?” she suggested, “Maybe the town is beckoning you to come back. Or you miss it unconsciously, you just don’t know it.”

“Maybe…” Ash pursed his lips, “Maybe I can visit it tomorrow? With Cilan and Iris? The bus passes through Okinomiya. We could just get there and walk.”

His mother didn’t answer this, “I don’t know. Do you think you’d feel comfortable with that? I wouldn’t want it to bring back bad memories for you…”

Ash shook his head, “It’s okay, I want to go. I’ve forgotten so much about it and my...my old friends, I feel bad for not remembering much.”

She smiled, “I mean… it’s your choice. Maybe it would be healthy for you to go.”

Ash’s heart swelled for a reason he could not pinpoint. He felt the remembrances of that town dully oscillate at his fingertips, a sensation he could’ve reached out and touched if his mother was not watching him.

His memories were hazy, smudged by the thumb of passing time. He couldn’t remember many voices or faces at Hinamizawa, and he would feel embarrassed to show up unannounced and not be able to recall anyone’s names. The desire was burning in his chest, however, as hot as that awful brightness from that nightmare. He decided then and there that to find some understanding in that experience, he should visit Hinamizawa once again. It would console his anxiety, at the very least.

“Okay, I think I want to go.” Ash muttered finally, a smile forming, “It’ll be fun, anyways. Iris and Cilan can learn who everyone is alongside me.”

His mother nodded in acceptance of this, “Alright, as long as you’re safe, sweetie. I’m going to go back to my bedroom now, okay? Let me know if you can’t sleep, you can always sleep in there.”

Ash rolled his eyes, “I’m not four anymore. I’ll be okay, Mom, I promise.”

He saw a flicker of something dark on her expression, but he brushed it off as the shadows in the bedroom. She smiled and said goodnight before leaving, closing the door upon her exit.

Once Ash was alone, he slid against the wall and heaved out a sigh. His hands had been clenched into fists to make sure he wasn’t shaking in front of his mother. He directed his gaze at the ceiling and sighed again. His chest felt tight.

_ What was that bright light? _ Ash wondered, bits and pieces of the dream coming back,  _ Where was it going? Why was it coming to me?  _

He reached his hand out in front of him. The light had been so mythical; it was an alien force that Ash had never felt before. He wasn’t sure what it even was.  _ Was it a bomb? _ He speculated,  _ Or a comet of some sort? _ He shifted his legs in thought.  _ It was big… _

He laid down on his back and pulled the blankets closer to him, eyes starting to close. He decided he would contemplate more deeply in the morning. It was late, and he was very, very tired.

As he drifted back into the welcoming arms of sleep, a face arose from the gloom of his consciousness, but he couldn’t make out the words they were saying to him. Perhaps someone of his past, someone from Hinamizawa, he supposed, but in his tired state he couldn’t summon the energy to remember. 

“What the hell is a  _ meteorite _ doing coming to Hinamizawa? What is the meaning of this?”

“Shh!” Hanyuu hissed, looking around frantically, “R-Rika, keep your voice down, pl-please, we can’t wake Satoko up—”

“Shut up!” Rika snarled, “I’m trying to think! This can’t be right, it absolutely  _ cannot _ be.”

Rika was pacing back and forth in the shadows of the kitchen, a cup of wine hanging loosely from her fingertips. Hanyuu winced each time the crimson liquid spilled from the aggression of Rika’s movements; she didn’t like how it stained Rika’s fingers, or the glass cup, or the kitchen floor. They were going to need to wipe it up later so Satoko wouldn’t see it.

Paying no mind to it now, however, Rika walked over the drips sinking into the wood without a second thought. Inwardly, her body felt like TV static, electric and unstable. Her fingers were shaking violently, no matter how hard she tried to stop them, and jolts of panic were being sent down her spine like electric currents. 

A new kind of despair was overtaking her. Rika had long ceased fearing the days of her death, the mysteries of Hinamizawa that quit being mysteries to her, and the rumors of murder that used to send shivers down her spine. They were locked into this predictable cycle that Rika was tied permanently to with no hope of escaping. By now, Rika could tell by the miniscule details what was going to unfold, and which friend would commit murder after this year’s Cotton Drifting Festival. It had grown tiresome.

This, however, was entirely new. The fear that was wrapping its icy cold claws around her throat was a fear of the unknown. She had never had such a vivid dream before, nor had she had a dream alongside Hanyuu. The two girls were frozen in the air, falling yet not falling, watching as a radiant meteorite tore the sky to pieces and crashed below, into their town of Hinamizawa. At the sight, Rika had felt a sense of smallness that far outweighed the one she had felt upon dying time and time again. 

“Was there ever a chance of a meteorite coming to Hinamizawa?” Rika demanded, “We’ve never seen that.”

“There’s always a ch-chance for a meteorite, yet the chance is very small…” Hanyuu whimpered, “It’s a one in nine thousand chance; 0.0011 percent chance of it ever happening at all, let alone Hinamizawa, and that would mean the percentage—”

“I don’t care about the damn numbers,” Rika hissed, her rage and fear mixing violently in her stomach, “What the hell are we supposed to do? What the hell am  _ I _ supposed to do? And why was… why was…”

She started to trail off, her voice dying. One of the most bewildering parts of the brutish nightmare was seeing someone beside her, a face that looked almost familiar. She had tried to call out to him, but he seemed frozen in place, his gaze targeted at the meteorite with an expression dripping with terror.

“That was… that was Ash…” Rika muttered, and Hanyuu sighed, relieved that she was lowering her voice, “Why was he there? We haven’t seen him in…not in…”

“It’s been about...four years since you last saw him.” Hanyuu fussed quietly, “After his father died, he never returned.”

“When you say it like that, you make it sound like he died of a cold or something,” Rika retorted, “You know what happened to him. And so do I.”

“I think we’ll be seeing him again very soon, Rika.” Hanyuu whispered, looking wistfully at the wall, “That was a dream of prophetic intent. A force greater than I has sent us a warning of the impossible and to combat it, it will take more than us. He’s coming back to Hinamizawa.”

“What?” Rika felt bewildered, “He can’t come back, remember? He’s forgotten everything.”

“Maybe so,” Hanyuu rolled her shoulders back and her posture looked more mature, “But I sense a change in the winds tonight. He will be coming back tomorrow. He was in that dream, too; he saw the meteorite. He senses the danger.”

Rika said nothing, frustration biting into her at Hanyuu’s vague certainty. She knew the goddess was right, but that didn’t mean that her lack of understanding didn’t upset her.

“How can there be a power greater than Lord Oyashiro?” Rika asked, “Beyond us…”

“There are many of those,” Hanyuu replied, “We’ve just never encountered a force quite like this one.”

Her tone had some finality to it, and when Rika tried to speak Hanyuu left the room. It was understandable; even if she wasn’t showing it in aggression, the burden of their discovery was weighing down on her, too. There wasn’t much else to speak about between them. The case was clear as day; a meteorite was coming and Ash was being brought along with it.

Rika leaned against the kitchen counter and ran her hands through her hair. Ash didn’t remember her, or anything about Hinamizawa. After the trauma he had suffered, the memories seemed to have evaporated into the night sky. Returning would cause them to resurface, and Rika feared for the worse.

“Shit…” Rika growled, “I don’t see any good coming out of this.”

Pressing her palms against the smooth countertop, she closed her eyes and listened to the crickets humming outside. The peaceful twilight noise didn’t match the turmoil whirling inside of her. The meteorite’s light and heat danced in her vision and she opened her eyes again.

She wished she could hope for the best, but her gut told her that only bad things would come from this.

_ What you saw was a vision of destruction. What you feel is a feeling of dread. What you expect is more agony tomorrow than you did yesterday. Today, however, is only the beginning. When They Cry, Intersection Chapter, Part Two: Homecoming. Do you believe it? _


	2. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I didn't forget about this. I've had this chapter finished for over a month I just...didn't post it for some reason? Anyways, here's the second chapter. It's more or less info-dumping, which will helps y'all understand the AU a little bit more! Thank you for reading, as always! (updated 10/2020, slight scene changes)

Ash kicked his foot against the ground restlessly, “You guys are taking so long!”

“Oh, please,” Iris huffed, “You’re just impatient, Cilan will be out in no time.”

“But he’s taking _forever_!” Ash wailed.

“Any waiting feels like forever for a little kid like you!”

At this, Ash stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes, but there was a joyful smile pulling at the corner of her lips. Her jeers at him were never meant to be taken seriously, even if they occasionally succeeded in getting under Ash’s skin.

He sighed in relief when Cilan finally poked his head out from the front door, hurrying with long strides to the front gate, “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting!” he said apologetically. “I misplaced a few things, but I found them with Ms Katou’s help.”

“That’s okay,” Iris gave him a thumbs up before turning her attention to Ash, “So, now what? Where was it that you wanted us to go with you to, again?”

“Uh, Okinomiyo first, then Hinamizawa,” Ash answered, the name still feeling like a foreign word on his tongue, “I have some old friends who live there, I thought it would be nice to say hi to them since I’m home and all.”

“Awesome,” Iris bobbed her head enthusiastically, “What kind of friends are they? How long have you known them?”

“Since I was little, although it’s been a long time since I’ve really spoken to them.”

“A long time?” Iris echoed, narrowing her dark brown eyes in concern. “You mean you didn’t call and ask? That’s kind of irresponsible...”

“Well, no, it’s fine! It’ll be like a surprise, I’m sure it’s okay!” Ash started to feel nervous, seeing her point, “Whatever happens, happens, right?”

“Oh jeez, you’re _such_ a little kid...”

“Settle down, you two,” Cilan chuckled warmly, “Let’s let Ash lead the way, I’m sure they’ll be more than pleased to see you!”

“Yeah!” Ash beamed but a dark thought snuck into his mind, _But should I be worried...about that nightmare?_

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since he woke up that morning. As real as it had appeared, it felt impossible to try and rationalize it as some weird omen of doom. He knew Cilan would’ve pointed the blame to unconscious memories or anxiety, or perhaps the hefty dinner he had eaten the night before; Cilan was logical like that, always trying to pin down any explanations to something tangible and easy to explain. Iris, on the other hand, would’ve wholeheartedly been convinced it was some message fate had brought him and that it was his duty to warn the village of the impending danger. She believed in all things supernatural, and many times that year she and Cilan had butted heads about it. Ash felt like he was somewhere in the indecisive middle, being pulled in each direction of their opposing ideologies. Still, it made him feel less afraid to tell himself that the nightmare meant nothing. Perhaps seeing his Hinamizawa friends again would calm his nerves.

The sun was bright, the summer heat baking the ground underneath their feet. The early afternoon sun was still climbing, yet to reach the peak of its warmth. The humidity teased the air, not quite there yet but forming ever so surely. Up ahead, Iris was stepping with a spring in her step, seeming eager to be out on the road, her long dark ponytail bouncing against her back. Cilan kept his gait steady, walking in tangent with Ash, flooding Ash with curious questions about Hinamizawa and his old friends.

“How many years has it been since you last saw them?” he inquired. 

“I’m not really sure, actually?” Ash couldn’t really grasp the lapse of time, “At least three or four, I think that’s around the time my mom and I moved to New York. I don’t remember all that well.”

“That’s fine, I was just wondering, I never really asked about what your life was like when you lived in Japan. It’s so interesting to think about! Do you know why you left? Was your mom homesick and missed New York?”

“Maybe?” Ash laughed a little, “I was like, a kid, so I don’t really remember why we left exactly. But it wasn’t much of a hassle. And it’s nice to be back here, I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

Ash knew that he and his mother’s abrupt move to her old stomping grounds in New York City had to do with his father passing away, but he hesitated to mention it to Cilan. Not only did he feel like it was too dark of a topic to venture into, he knew he would be completely unprepared for whatever further questions Cilan had on the subject. The details were incredibly foggy, and when he tried to think back to the time of packing up bags and flying in a crowded airplane and moving in with his aunt, everything blurred like a shaky reflection on the surface of water. 

He couldn’t remember much from that beginning, other than switching schools and feeling completely out of place and alone. He was lucky to meet Cilan during the recess period, who had shared his home-cooked food with him, and they became fast friends. Iris came later; she would exchange a word or two with them before school before she finally had the guts to swallow her pride and sit down with them. She said it was because they seemed like “doofus little kids”, Ash had asked her if it was because she was too embarrassed to talk to boys. She hit him, he tried to defend himself, they both got in trouble; immediately they became best friends too.

There was Trip too, who Ash had tried to become friends with over the past few years, but he always seemed to ignore him. Ash thought he was kind of a jerk, Cilan thought he was just insecure. Iris thought he was being a baby. Nobody seemed to agree on an analysis. 

“It _is_ really nice here,” Cilan nodded his head contemplatively, “It’s a lot nicer here than New York. Cleaner, for example.”

Ash laughed again, “Doesn’t really smell like cars and stuff, yeah, it’s more rural here. I like it better.”

“Is Hinamizawa like that, too? Smaller, greener, cleaner…?”

“Oh, it's a lot smaller than here, where my mom and I live,” Ash kicked a rock absentmindedly, “Everyone knows who everyone is, no matter if they’re old or young. If something small happens like someone falling off their bike everyone knows about it by the end of the day. It’s pretty funny, actually.”

“Oh,” Cilan mused, “Does that mean everyone is going to know when you’re there?”

“Oh, probably,” Ash hadn’t really thought about that, “I don’t think it’ll be weird though? It’s not like I’m a stranger or anything.”

“Iris and I are, though, right?”

_Oh yeah._ “Okay, then _maybe_ it’ll be a little weird but it won’t be _super_ weird, I swear!”

“You guys walk too slow!” Iris shouted from up ahead, “I don’t wanna be walking in the humidity!”

“It’s only been a few minutes, Iris,” Cilan pointed out.

“That’s still a few minutes closer to noon, though!”

“You’re a big baby! It’s not that hot!” Ash retorted playfully.

“You’re a baby for walking like an inch every hour!” Iris retorted back, “Little kid!”

“Oh, I can go faster than that!” Ash picked up his pace, rushing past her.

“H-Hey!” she shouted from behind him, “That’s so not fair!”

The wind felt cool on Ash’s face. The earthy smells were becoming more familiar to him, and Ash breathed it all in, _The air! The town air! Hinamizawa will be even fresher!_

He knew they must’ve been getting close to the bus that would take them into Okinomiya, and then Hinamizawa. He picked up his speed, feeling his feet fly over the ground. His excitement was taking over, propelling him forward. _Will they remember me?_ He wondered. _Will they be happy? Will they get weirded out? Who cares! I’m just glad to see them again!_

His lungs were starting to burn but he didn’t care. He heard Iris yelling and cursing behind him, clearly keeping in pace with him, and he took that as a sign to quicken his stride. His heart felt like it was sizzling in elation.

_Stop._

He stopped mid-leap and stumbled, tripping and rolling across the ground. _Huh?_

_Why did you come back?_

Ash felt his thrill of returning evaporate. _Wh-?_

_I’m sorry. Please go back home._

“Huh?” He couldn’t recognize the voice at all. 

He sat up, dusting the dirt clinging to his shirt, looking to and fro for the speaker. He didn’t see anyone standing around, or any indication that someone was there.

_Please go back home._

His breath caught in his chest.“I-”

“Ash!”

He jolted and turned his head to see Iris rushing to him. She stopped where he sat and helped him to his feet, “Jeez, did you trip over your own feet or something? Were you going too fast?”

“Probably, still faster than you, though!” Ash boasted, but he felt the presence of the voice linger. _Maybe it was just my imagination…_

“Oh, whatever,” Iris nudged him playfully, “At least I can run and not fall!”

“You both run too fast,” Cilan’s voice drifted over to the pair as he caught up, “Jeez! We’re going to get too tired before we can even arrive…”

“Nah, we’ll be fine,” Iris pointed up ahead, “There’s the bus stop you mentioned earlier, remember?”

Ash turned around and saw the bus stop in front of him. “Oh...I guess I didn’t see it.”

Cilan pulled the bus fares from his pocket, “I have the change you guys gave me, let’s hurry before it goes without us!”

Iris nodded, pushing the two boys ahead, “ Come on, come on!”

They quickly boarded, Cilan handing the change over for the tickets, but Ash stopped to look behind him before boarding. The voice was echoing in his head, and it made him nervous. _Who was speaking to me?_

_I’m sorry. Please go back home._

“What...who are you…” Ash barely let himself whisper, finally making his way through the bus to sit with his friends, trying to ignore the whispers that seemed to get louder and louder.

_I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry._

* * *

The voice kept its feeble apologies all the way to Okinomiyo. Ash felt his heart clench with sympathy, wondering what the speaker did to be so apologetic. Whatever it was, Ash would have forgiven them. Or her, it sounded a lot like a young woman.

He knew that Cilan and Iris couldn’t hear her, because they talked in low voices on the bus to not disturb anyone, oblivious to the pathetic apologies that rang in Ash’s head. If they really could hear her, they gave no indication as they didn’t react or look around like Ash did when she spoke. She mostly begged Ash to go home, and Ash wondered if this was just his subconscious making him nervous about seeing everyone again and wanted to turn around and go back to his mom. _Yeah, that makes sense...right? I’m just nervous and my brain is all weird..._

The sound of tires screeching to a slow and steady halt yanked him out of his thoughts. They must’ve arrived at Okinomiya. From there they would have to board a different bus or walk to Hinamizawa; it was too rural still to be connected to the main transit. 

Ash gestured to Cilan and Iris that they had made it to their stop, and the three of them hurried to get off the bus on time. Iris stretched her arms up once they exited and yawned loudly, “Man, that felt like the longest trip in the world…”

“It was cleaner than the subways back home,” Cilan remarked, “Quieter, too. I kind of liked it.”

“Mm,” Ash nodded unenthusiastically, trying to remember where the other stop was to Hinamizawa.

“Well? Where are we off to next?” Iris asked eagerly, “This is Okinomiyo, right?”

“Yeah,” Ash nodded, “It’s nice. We can find the other bus stop that leads into Hinamizawa...or….”

He stopped, realizing his gaze had carried to up ahead, where the toy store was. He squinted, trying to read the sign. 

Ash vaguely remembered something about someone owning it. No, her family owned it, the uncle. He vaguely remembered her walking with him in there, holding a deck of cards in her hands and throwing her head back with raucous laughter. What was her name again? Miya? Mio? _Mion…!_

Ash stepped forward, _Mion Sonozaki… I remember her! Maybe I could ask about her at the toy store, they probably know if she’s around…_

“You see that toy store over there?” Ash pointed, and Iris and Cilan followed his finger, “I think I used to know the girl whose uncle owned it. I think we should ask if she’s in today.”

“We could just go into town though, right?” Cilan asked, “Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Ash was about to answer but when he turned back he saw a tall, slim figure exiting the shop. Long green hair fell from a ponytail. He could hear her laughter even from the distance, and a flicker of familiarity buzzed through him. _Wait… that’s…._

He ran forward, heart pounding, _That’s her… right?_

He ignored Iris and Cilan crying out for him. She was definitely older than he last saw her, but her face was so recognizable to him, her distinct cackle even more so. She was holding the door open, and as Ash got closer he saw people leaving behind her. He couldn’t make out the words she was saying but she seemed proud and cocky, obnoxiously jeering at a boy her age who seemed furious at her attitude. Ash did not recognize him.

When he got closer he tried to call out, but his voice at first failed him. His nerves wrapped around his throat and made it hard to speak. Swallowing hard, he opened his mouth again,“M-Mion!” he cried out.

The girl stopped mid-conversation and looked in his direction, “Eh? Who’s talkin’ to me?”

It was unmistakable. The rough way that girl spoke was clearly Mion’s diction. “Mion!” Ash called again, running forward with more confidence,“Hey!”

She stared at him incredulously, and so did the boy beside her, “Wait...isn’t that-”

Ash finally got close enough, stopping to catch his breath, “M-Mion... It’s me. Ash.”

Mion’s mouth opened to ask a question again, but within a few short moments her face lit up and she shrieked out loud, “Holy _shit_ ―I mean, oh my gosh Ash! Wow! It has been _forever_!” She rushed to him, beaming, “Wh―you’re home? You came back to Japan? When?! How long are you staying?! Man, it has felt like a millennium since I’ve seen you!” She was speaking very quickly, and once she was standing face to face to him Ash felt self conscious of how short he was in comparison to her.

He gave a quick bow before he continued speaking to the bewildered Mion, “I know it’s been super long since I was here, sorry about that. I'm back for the summer! My mom and I flew out here because she had some research stuff she was working on with Dr Okido.”

“You mean that old geezer who would yell at you for ruining his silly science experiments? Ah, I remember those stories!” Mion snorted loudly, “Always holed up in his lab, making little mice run through little mazes...it must have been something more interesting than that to dial up Ms. Katou! Wonder how hard an international call is nowadays…”

“Ash!”

Ash was suddenly swarmed by another familiar figure, “What is going on? Is this really who I think it is? How dare you suddenly appear out of fine air! I thought you moved!”

“Hey, hey! I’m sorry!” Ash spluttered out as a girl he remembered as Satoko thrust her face towards him in hostility, eyes blazing underneath her messy blonde bangs. Nevertheless, she was unable to hold back a bright cheeky grin and she put her hands on her hips and laughed. Ash barely recognized her beyond her voice, but he did suddenly remember, however, that Satoko had a brother as well. _Where’s Satoshi?_ He wondered suddenly, but before he could ask her another familiar voice came from behind her.

“Satoko, I think you mean 'thin air', not 'fine' air…” Another familiar voice chimed in, a soft and gentle one. It was a teenage girl with sunset-colored hair that frames her round face, blue eyes glistening with perplexity as she tilted her head, staring at Ash. "E-eh? Is that Ash, is it, is it?"

Ash just looked at her blankly, frantically trying to recall her name. "R...R...Rei...na?"

"Yes! Rena is my name!" Rena gasped. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it's you! Hau!"

"It is him!" Satoko shrieked, "Wow! I can't believe you remember us! Rika! Rika! Come here!"

_Rika!_ Ash's heart skipped a beat. _She's here, too!_

When Rika’s small, violet-colored figure peeked out from behind Rena, Ash's heart skipped a beat. Her face was awash pale with dramatic shock, as if someone had struck her with a bolt of lightning. It rippled across her face for a split second before quickly morphing into a huge smile, “Mii~, hi Ash!”

“Hi, Rika!” Ash returned her greeting. Rika he remembered the most, their fathers had been friends when Ash was still living in Hinamizawa. That was before... _before what? Probably before I moved, I can’t remember why…_

“Uh, Mion? Who is this?” the boy standing beside Mion asked. His voice was deep, and he stood towering over Ash, tall and proud, in a way that only teenage boys do. It made Ash feel intimidated. 

“Who _is_ this?” Mion threw the question back at him “Oh man, what a blast from the past! This is one of our oldest companions!”

"Huh?" the boy looked at Ash, puzzled. "Oldest companion?"

Mion grabbed Ash by the arm and pulled him in front of her with gusto, "Here! This is Ash Katou, he lived in Hinamizawa with his dad for a while before moving away a few years ago. Ash, this is Keiichi! He just transferred here recently. "

"Hello Ash Katou! I’ll always welcome another guy," the boy chuckled, extending his hand out, "I'm Keiichi Maebara, pleased to meet you."

"Hey Keiichi," Ash grasped his hand and shook it. It felt firm and confident, "Nice to meet you, too!"

He felt almost overwhelmed. In his mind, their faces had been hazy and hard to pick out among a crowd. He was on the precipice of forgetting everything, from the town to the people to his precious friends from childhood. Now their faces were before him, bright and colorful, yet Ash still felt uncertain. There was a lot that was coming back to him in small segments, like dusty photographs with the ink smeared off. There was a lot of the picture missing, and Mion and everyone else’s quick familiarity caused guilt to poke at his heart. He wished he remembered everything more clearly. 

"And who are these two?" Mion gestured to Iris and Cilan, who were awkwardly standing next to each other behind Ash.

"Oh!" Ash felt guilty for neglecting to introduce them, "I'm sorry! I got so excited I forgot to introduce you to them. They're my friends I met in school, back in America, they flew here with me, this is Iris and Cilan."

"Cilan is a weird name." Satoko chirped.

"Satoko, don't be rude," Rena chided gently.

Cilan gave a nervous laugh, "No, it's okay, everyone back home says it, too. My parents… they were cooks and all, so they called their kids after herbs and spices and whatnot. I got stuck with Cilan; it's like cilantro."

"That sounds really cool, actually." Keiichi remarked, "Do you cook with them?"

"A-ah, it's actually-"

“Are you visiting for the day?” Mion interrupted, “The Cotton Drifting Festival is tonight, you should stay for it!”

_Cotton Drifting Festival…_ he believed he remembered this. He remembered a sticky summer night, shouts of boastful triumph and victory, the smell of barbeque in the air. When he tried to think harder about it, the memory dissipated like smoke and he was left with nothing. 

“You ought to join us tonight if you can,” Satoko added, “We’re going to turn it into a grandiose club activity!We’re calling it the Battle of Five Evils!”

“Maybe we can add to it,” Keiichi interjected, “Like, Battle of the Five Evils, Plus Three!”

“Why can't you just add them up together? Then it would be Eight Evils!” Satoko grumbled, “I thought you said you knew how to do math…"

“Ugh! You’re so rude!” Keiichi grumbled as Satoko chortled over her small victory.

“What is this Cotton Drifting Festival, exactly?” Iris asked excitedly, “It sounds like a lot of fun!”

“Oh, it is!” Mion smirked, “There’s food and games, it’s a summer celebration our village has every year! At the end of the night we drift cotton down the river. It’s meant to take our troubles away with it, or so the legend goes.”

“How poetic! An event that cleanses the palette of your soul...” Cilan swooned, “I wouldn’t mind being able to see something like that!”

“But where would we all stay if it goes late?” Ash asked, “I would have to call my mom and tell her, she’d get worried…”

“We’ll talk about that later!” Mion declared boldy, “We should have a picnic to celebrate your return, so let's go meet up at the shrine in two hours and we’ll sort it out there. We have plenty of time, after all.”

Ash noted she was correct. The sun was still shining brightly, and there was finally some humidity wafting over Ash’s skin. _Well, I probably have time before I’d have to call her, so it wouldn’t hurt to hang out for a while…_

“Actually, I wonder if it would be more fun to turn this into a game too, I wonder, I wonder?” Rena proposed.

“You’re talking my language, Rena,” Keiichi replied eagerly, “How would we?”

“Like, whoever brings the best item to the picnic wins, or something, something,” Rena trailed off, “I didn’t think that far ahead, unfortunately…”

“Let’s break into teams!” Satoko chimed in, “Whichever group brings the best food gets to decide what game we play next!”

“Good plan,” Keiichi nodded, “Rena, will you be on my team? Cilan, you too?”

“I’ll take Rika, of course!” Satoko grabbed Rika by the hand.

“Ash, will you be on our team, too?” Rika turned to face him, “Mii, we can catch up that way!”

“Iris can go with me,” Mion asserted, “I can show her around town in the meantime, it’ll be a high-level, premium tour!”

After some brief consolidation and conversing among the group, they split into three factions; Mion and Iris, Keiichi with Cilan and Rena, and Satoko with Rika and Ash. After grabbing their bikes, they disbanded and hurried to make it back to Hinamizawa.

Satoko was biking ahead, determined to cook up something spectacular for the picnic, while Ash walked beside Rika with her bike. They were not speaking, and the silence made Ash feel incredibly awkward. He wasn't sure what to say or how to speak to her, or if he should ask her about his dream. He remembered her being a shrine priestess, so maybe she knew how to decipher those kinds of things. "Um, it's been a really long time."

"It has." Rika replied merrily, "It's been a long, long time, Ash."

“It’s nice to...to be back,” Ash continued, “I feel like I was last here a thousand years ago or something.”

“A thousand years…” Rika muttered.

Ash wracked his brain for a way to casually slide his question into the conversation. “A-Ah, actually I thought about coming here because I had a dream about Hinamizawa, you know?”

“Really?” the young girl kept her gaze forward but her tone betrayed her interest.

“Like...a really, really weird dream. It was like I was really there,” Ash chuckled nervously. “Rika, have you ever had a dream that felt way too real?”

She didn't answer immediately, continuing to walk beside him with her hands clasped firmly on her bike’s handles. Her dress fluttered at her knees, and at first Ash thought she didn't hear him. He opened his mouth to repeat himself, "H-hey-"

He was stopped when Rika intercepted his path and grasped his shoulder firmly with one arm. Her bike toppled over and fell with a clang, but Rika paid no mind to it, her focus solely on the confused Ash, who felt his heart squeeze with anxiety at her gaze. Her amethyst eyes were burning with an indescribable intensity, her brows dipping into a stony, serious expression.

"You had a dream about a meteor, right?" Rika asked, her voice sounding tight.

"U-uh...y-yeah, how did you…" Ash jolted from her inquiry, "You couldn’t have known that, it was my dream. It was a dream, right...?"

"No," the answer’s finality made Ash’s whole body freeze.

Rika looked over her shoulder cautiously, making sure Satoko hadn't noticed their sudden stop, and turned back to face him with her harsh stare, "It was a prophetic vision we shared, although I'm not sure why…"

"Wh...huh?" Ash felt overwhelmed with this information, "You saw it?! Is something bad gonna happen to Hinamizawa?”

Silence. She just bore into him with her expression, which was now gazing at the floor. She looked...defeated, the face of someone fighting a losing battle. Ash reached a shaky hand out and grasped her cheek. “R-Rika…”

She looked back up at him, and the defeat was gone from her face. She gave an icy smile. “I think we should talk about this later.

Before Ash could protest, Rika released him and skipped ahead, her voice singsongy, "Mii! Let's catch up, don't fall behind!"

Her sudden lackadaisical attitude made Ash's blood run cold. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly felt very, very scared.

_“There was happiness before. There is happiness for now. There will be terror in the future. It beckons at the horizon, and you have no choice but to heed its call. When They Cry, Intersection Chapter, Part Three: Augury. Do you believe it?”_

Ash kicked his foot against the ground restlessly, “You guys are taking so long!”

“Oh, please,” Iris huffed, “You’re just impatient, Cilan will be out in no time.”

“But he’s taking  _ forever _ !” Ash wailed.

“Any waiting feels like forever for a little kid like you!”

At this, Ash stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes, but there was a joyful smile pulling at the corner of her lips. Her jeers at him were never meant to be taken seriously, even if they occasionally succeeded in getting under Ash’s skin.

He sighed in relief when Cilan finally poked his head out from the front door, hurrying with long strides to the front gate, “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting!” he said apologetically. “I misplaced a few things, but I found them with Ms Katou’s help.”

“That’s okay,” Iris gave him a thumbs up before turning her attention to Ash, “So, now what? Where was it that you wanted us to go with you to, again?”

“Uh, Okinomiyo first, then Hinamizawa,” Ash answered, the name still feeling like a foreign word on his tongue, “I have some old friends who live there, I thought it would be nice to say hi to them since I’m home and all.”

“Awesome,” Iris bobbed her head enthusiastically, “What kind of friends are they? How long have you known them?”

“Since I was little, although it’s been a long time since I’ve really spoken to them.”

“A long time?” Iris echoed, narrowing her dark brown eyes in concern. “You mean you didn’t call and ask? That’s kind of irresponsible...”

“Well, no, it’s fine! It’ll be like a surprise, I’m sure it’s okay!” Ash started to feel nervous, seeing her point, “Whatever happens, happens, right?”

“Oh jeez, you’re  _ such _ a little kid...”

“Settle down, you two,” Cilan chuckled warmly, “Let’s let Ash lead the way, I’m sure they’ll be more than pleased to see you!”

“Yeah!” Ash beamed but a dark thought snuck into his mind,  _ But should I be worried...about that nightmare? _

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since he woke up that morning. As real as it had appeared, it felt impossible to try and rationalize it as some weird omen of doom. He knew Cilan would’ve pointed the blame to unconscious memories or anxiety, or perhaps the hefty dinner he had eaten the night before; Cilan was logical like that, always trying to pin down any explanations to something tangible and easy to explain. Iris, on the other hand, would’ve wholeheartedly been convinced it was some message fate had brought him and that it was his duty to warn the village of the impending danger. She believed in all things supernatural, and many times that year she and Cilan had butted heads about it. Ash felt like he was somewhere in the indecisive middle, being pulled in each direction of their opposing ideologies. Still, it made him feel less afraid to tell himself that the nightmare meant nothing. Perhaps seeing his Hinamizawa friends again would calm his nerves.

The sun was bright, the summer heat baking the ground underneath their feet. The early afternoon sun was still climbing, yet to reach the peak of its warmth. The humidity teased the air, not quite there yet but forming ever so surely. Up ahead, Iris was stepping with a spring in her step, seeming eager to be out on the road, her long dark ponytail bouncing against her back. Cilan kept his gait steady, walking in tangent with Ash, flooding Ash with curious questions about Hinamizawa and his old friends.

“How many years has it been since you last saw them?” he inquired. 

“I’m not really sure, actually?” Ash couldn’t really grasp the lapse of time, “At least three or four, I think that’s around the time my mom and I moved to New York. I don’t remember all that well.”

“That’s fine, I was just wondering, I never really asked about what your life was like when you lived in Japan. It’s so interesting to think about! Do you know why you left? Was your mom homesick and missed New York?”

“Maybe?” Ash laughed a little, “I was like, a kid, so I don’t really remember why we left exactly. But it wasn’t much of a hassle. And it’s nice to be back here, I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

Ash knew that he and his mother’s abrupt move to her old stomping grounds in New York City had to do with his father passing away, but he hesitated to mention it to Cilan. Not only did he feel like it was too dark of a topic to venture into, he knew he would be completely unprepared for whatever further questions Cilan had on the subject. The details were incredibly foggy, and when he tried to think back to the time of packing up bags and flying in a crowded airplane and moving in with his aunt, everything blurred like a shaky reflection on the surface of water. 

He couldn’t remember much from that beginning, other than switching schools and feeling completely out of place and alone. He was lucky to meet Cilan during the recess period, who had shared his home-cooked food with him, and they became fast friends. Iris came later; she would exchange a word or two with them before school before she finally had the guts to swallow her pride and sit down with them. She said it was because they seemed like “doofus little kids”, Ash had asked her if it was because she was too embarrassed to talk to boys. She hit him, he tried to defend himself, they both got in trouble; immediately they became best friends too.

There was Trip too, who Ash had tried to become friends with over the past few years, but he always seemed to ignore him. Ash thought he was kind of a jerk, Cilan thought he was just insecure. Iris thought he was being a baby. Nobody seemed to agree on an analysis. 

“It _ is _ really nice here,” Cilan nodded his head contemplatively, “It’s a lot nicer here than New York. Cleaner, for example.”

Ash laughed again, “Doesn’t really smell like cars and stuff, yeah, it’s more rural here. I like it better.”

“Is Hinamizawa like that, too? Smaller, greener, cleaner…?”

“Oh, it's a lot smaller than here, where my mom and I live,” Ash kicked a rock absentmindedly, “Everyone knows who everyone is, no matter if they’re old or young. If something small happens like someone falling off their bike everyone knows about it by the end of the day. It’s pretty funny, actually.”

“Oh,” Cilan mused, “Does that mean everyone is going to know when you’re there?”

“Oh, probably,” Ash hadn’t really thought about that, “I don’t think it’ll be weird though? It’s not like I’m a stranger or anything.”

“Iris and I are, though, right?”

_ Oh yeah. _ “Okay, then  _ maybe _ it’ll be a little weird but it won’t be  _ super _ weird, I swear!”

“You guys walk too slow!” Iris shouted from up ahead, “I don’t wanna be walking in the humidity!”

“It’s only been a few minutes, Iris,” Cilan pointed out.

“That’s still a few minutes closer to noon, though!”

“You’re a big baby! It’s not that hot!” Ash retorted playfully.

“You’re a baby for walking like an inch every hour!” Iris retorted back, “Little kid!”

“Oh, I can go faster than that!” Ash picked up his pace, rushing past her.

“H-Hey!” she shouted from behind him, “That’s so not fair!”

The wind felt cool on Ash’s face. The earthy smells were becoming more familiar to him, and Ash breathed it all in,  _ The air! The town air! Hinamizawa will be even fresher! _

He knew they must’ve been getting close to the bus that would take them into Okinomiya, and then Hinamizawa. He picked up his speed, feeling his feet fly over the ground. His excitement was taking over, propelling him forward.  _ Will they remember me? _ He wondered.  _ Will they be happy? Will they get weirded out? Who cares! I’m just glad to see them again! _

His lungs were starting to burn but he didn’t care. He heard Iris yelling and cursing behind him, clearly keeping in pace with him, and he took that as a sign to quicken his stride. His heart felt like it was sizzling in elation.

_ Stop. _

He stopped mid-leap and stumbled, tripping and rolling across the ground.  _ Huh? _

_ Why did you come back? _

Ash felt his thrill of returning evaporate.  _ Wh-? _

_ I’m sorry. Please go back home. _

“Huh?” He couldn’t recognize the voice at all. 

He sat up, dusting the dirt clinging to his shirt, looking to and fro for the speaker. He didn’t see anyone standing around, or any indication that someone was there.

_ Please go back home. _

His breath caught in his chest.“I-”

“Ash!”

He jolted and turned his head to see Iris rushing to him. She stopped where he sat and helped him to his feet, “Jeez, did you trip over your own feet or something? Were you going too fast?”

“Probably, still faster than you, though!” Ash boasted, but he felt the presence of the voice linger.  _ Maybe it was just my imagination… _

“Oh, whatever,” Iris nudged him playfully, “At least I can run and not fall!”

“You both run too fast,” Cilan’s voice drifted over to the pair as he caught up, “Jeez! We’re going to get too tired before we can even arrive…”

“Nah, we’ll be fine,” Iris pointed up ahead, “There’s the bus stop you mentioned earlier, remember?”

Ash turned around and saw the bus stop in front of him. “Oh...I guess I didn’t see it.”

Cilan pulled the bus fares from his pocket, “I have the change you guys gave me, let’s hurry before it goes without us!”

Iris nodded, pushing the two boys ahead, “ Come on, come on!”

They quickly boarded, Cilan handing the change over for the tickets, but Ash stopped to look behind him before boarding. The voice was echoing in his head, and it made him nervous.  _ Who was speaking to me? _

_ I’m sorry. Please go back home. _

“What...who are you…” Ash barely let himself whisper, finally making his way through the bus to sit with his friends, trying to ignore the whispers that seemed to get louder and louder.

_ I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. _

* * *

The voice kept its feeble apologies all the way to Okinomiyo. Ash felt his heart clench with sympathy, wondering what the speaker did to be so apologetic. Whatever it was, Ash would have forgiven them. Or her, it sounded a lot like a young woman.

He knew that Cilan and Iris couldn’t hear her, because they talked in low voices on the bus to not disturb anyone, oblivious to the pathetic apologies that rang in Ash’s head. If they really could hear her, they gave no indication as they didn’t react or look around like Ash did when she spoke. She mostly begged Ash to go home, and Ash wondered if this was just his subconscious making him nervous about seeing everyone again and wanted to turn around and go back to his mom.  _ Yeah, that makes sense...right? I’m just nervous and my brain is all weird... _

The sound of tires screeching to a slow and steady halt yanked him out of his thoughts. They must’ve arrived at Okinomiya. From there they would have to board a different bus or walk to Hinamizawa; it was too rural still to be connected to the main transit. 

Ash gestured to Cilan and Iris that they had made it to their stop, and the three of them hurried to get off the bus on time. Iris stretched her arms up once they exited and yawned loudly, “Man, that felt like the longest trip in the world…”

“It was cleaner than the subways back home,” Cilan remarked, “Quieter, too. I kind of liked it.”

“Mm,” Ash nodded unenthusiastically, trying to remember where the other stop was to Hinamizawa.

“Well? Where are we off to next?” Iris asked eagerly, “This is Okinomiyo, right?”

“Yeah,” Ash nodded, “It’s nice. We can find the other bus stop that leads into Hinamizawa...or….”

He stopped, realizing his gaze had carried to up ahead, where the toy store was. He squinted, trying to read the sign. 

Ash vaguely remembered something about someone owning it. No, her family owned it, the uncle. He vaguely remembered her walking with him in there, holding a deck of cards in her hands and throwing her head back with raucous laughter. What was her name again? Miya? Mio?  _ Mion…! _

Ash stepped forward,  _ Mion Sonozaki… I remember her! Maybe I could ask about her at the toy store, they probably know if she’s around… _

“You see that toy store over there?” Ash pointed, and Iris and Cilan followed his finger, “I think I used to know the girl whose uncle owned it. I think we should ask if she’s in today.”

“We could just go into town though, right?” Cilan asked, “Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Ash was about to answer but when he turned back he saw a tall, slim figure exiting the shop. Long green hair fell from a ponytail. He could hear her laughter even from the distance, and a flicker of familiarity buzzed through him.  _ Wait… that’s…. _

He ran forward, heart pounding,  _ That’s her… right? _

He ignored Iris and Cilan crying out for him. She was definitely older than he last saw her, but her face was so recognizable to him, her distinct cackle even more so. She was holding the door open, and as Ash got closer he saw people leaving behind her. He couldn’t make out the words she was saying but she seemed proud and cocky, obnoxiously jeering at a boy her age who seemed furious at her attitude. Ash did not recognize him.

When he got closer he tried to call out, but his voice at first failed him. His nerves wrapped around his throat and made it hard to speak. Swallowing hard, he opened his mouth again,“M-Mion!” he cried out.

The girl stopped mid-conversation and looked in his direction, “Eh? Who’s talkin’ to me?”

It was unmistakable. The rough way that girl spoke was clearly Mion’s diction. “Mion!” Ash called again, running forward with more confidence,“Hey!”

She stared at him incredulously, and so did the boy beside her, “Wait...isn’t that-”

Ash finally got close enough, stopping to catch his breath, “M-Mion... It’s me. Ash.”

Mion’s mouth opened to ask a question again, but within a few short moments her face lit up and she shrieked out loud, “Holy  _ shit _ ―I mean, oh my gosh Ash! Wow! It has been _ forever _ !” She rushed to him, beaming, “Wh―you’re home? You came back to Japan? When?! How long are you staying?! Man, it has felt like a millennium since I’ve seen you!” She was speaking very quickly, and once she was standing face to face to him Ash felt self conscious of how short he was in comparison to her.

He gave a quick bow before he continued speaking to the bewildered Mion, “I know it’s been super long since I was here, sorry about that. I'm back for the summer! My mom and I flew out here because she had some research stuff she was working on with Dr Okido.”

“You mean that old geezer who would yell at you for ruining his silly science experiments? Ah, I remember those stories!” Mion snorted loudly, “Always holed up in his lab, making little mice run through little mazes...it must have been something more interesting than that to dial up Ms. Katou! Wonder how hard an international call is nowadays…”

“Ash!”

Ash was suddenly swarmed by another familiar figure, “What is going on? Is this really who I think it is? How dare you suddenly appear out of fine air! I thought you moved!”

“Hey, hey! I’m sorry!” Ash spluttered out as a girl he remembered as Satoko thrust her face towards him in hostility, eyes blazing underneath her messy blonde bangs. Nevertheless, she was unable to hold back a bright cheeky grin and she put her hands on her hips and laughed. Ash barely recognized her beyond her voice, but he did suddenly remember, however, that Satoko had a brother as well. _Where’s Satoshi?_ He wondered suddenly, but before he could ask her another familiar voice came from behind her.

“Satoko, I think you mean 'thin air', not 'fine' air…” Another familiar voice chimed in, a soft and gentle one. It was a teenage girl with sunset-colored hair that frames her round face, blue eyes glistening with perplexity as she tilted her head, staring at Ash. "E-eh? Is that Ash, is it, is it?"

Ash just looked at her blankly, frantically trying to recall her name. "R...R...Rei...na?"

"Yes! Rena is my name!" Rena gasped. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it's you! Hau!"

"It is him!" Satoko shrieked, "Wow! I can't believe you remember us! Rika! Rika! Come here!"

_ Rika! _ Ash's heart skipped a beat.  _ She's here, too!  _

When Rika’s small, violet-colored figure peeked out from behind Rena, Ash's heart skipped a beat. Her face was awash pale with dramatic shock, as if someone had struck her with a bolt of lightning. It rippled across her face for a split second before quickly morphing into a huge smile, “Mii~, hi Ash!”

“Hi, Rika!” Ash returned her greeting. Rika he remembered the most, their fathers had been friends when Ash was still living in Hinamizawa. That was before... _ before what? Probably before I moved, I can’t remember why… _

“Uh, Mion? Who is this?” the boy standing beside Mion asked. His voice was deep, and he stood towering over Ash, tall and proud, in a way that only teenage boys do. It made Ash feel intimidated. 

“Who  _ is _ this?” Mion threw the question back at him “Oh man, what a blast from the past! This is one of our oldest companions!”

"Huh?" the boy looked at Ash, puzzled. "Oldest companion?"

Mion grabbed Ash by the arm and pulled him in front of her with gusto, "Here! This is Ash Katou, he lived in Hinamizawa with his dad for a while before moving away a few years ago. Ash, this is Keiichi! He just transferred here recently. "

"Hello Ash Katou! I’ll always welcome another guy," the boy chuckled, extending his hand out, "I'm Keiichi Maebara, pleased to meet you."

"Hey Keiichi," Ash grasped his hand and shook it. It felt firm and confident, "Nice to meet you, too!"

He felt almost overwhelmed. In his mind, their faces had been hazy and hard to pick out among a crowd. He was on the precipice of forgetting everything, from the town to the people to his precious friends from childhood. Now their faces were before him, bright and colorful, yet Ash still felt uncertain. There was a lot that was coming back to him in small segments, like dusty photographs with the ink smeared off. There was a lot of the picture missing, and Mion and everyone else’s quick familiarity caused guilt to poke at his heart. He wished he remembered everything more clearly. 

"And who are these two?" Mion gestured to Iris and Cilan, who were awkwardly standing next to each other behind Ash.

"Oh!" Ash felt guilty for neglecting to introduce them, "I'm sorry! I got so excited I forgot to introduce you to them. They're my friends I met in school, back in America, they flew here with me, this is Iris and Cilan."

"Cilan is a weird name." Satoko chirped.

"Satoko, don't be rude," Rena chided gently.

Cilan gave a nervous laugh, "No, it's okay, everyone back home says it, too. My parents… they were cooks and all, so they called their kids after herbs and spices and whatnot. I got stuck with Cilan; it's like cilantro."

"That sounds really cool, actually." Keiichi remarked, "Do you cook with them?"

"A-ah, it's actually-"

“Are you visiting for the day?” Mion interrupted, “The Cotton Drifting Festival is tonight, you should stay for it!”

_ Cotton Drifting Festival… _ he believed he remembered this. He remembered a sticky summer night, shouts of boastful triumph and victory, the smell of barbeque in the air. When he tried to think harder about it, the memory dissipated like smoke and he was left with nothing. 

“You ought to join us tonight if you can,” Satoko added, “We’re going to turn it into a grandiose club activity!We’re calling it the Battle of Five Evils!”

“Maybe we can add to it,” Keiichi interjected, “Like, Battle of the Five Evils, Plus Three!”

“Why can't you just add them up together? Then it would be Eight Evils!” Satoko grumbled, “I thought you said you knew how to do math…"

“Ugh! You’re so rude!” Keiichi grumbled as Satoko chortled over her small victory.

“What is this Cotton Drifting Festival, exactly?” Iris asked excitedly, “It sounds like a lot of fun!”

“Oh, it is!” Mion smirked, “There’s food and games, it’s a summer celebration our village has every year! At the end of the night we drift cotton down the river. It’s meant to take our troubles away with it, or so the legend goes.”

“How poetic! An event that cleanses the palette of your soul...” Cilan swooned, “I wouldn’t mind being able to see something like that!”

“But where would we all stay if it goes late?” Ash asked, “I would have to call my mom and tell her, she’d get worried…”

“We’ll talk about that later!” Mion declared boldy, “We should have a picnic to celebrate your return, so let's go meet up at the shrine in two hours and we’ll sort it out there. We have plenty of time, after all.”

Ash noted she was correct. The sun was still shining brightly, and there was finally some humidity wafting over Ash’s skin.  _ Well, I probably have time before I’d have to call her, so it wouldn’t hurt to hang out for a while… _

“Actually, I wonder if it would be more fun to turn this into a game too, I wonder, I wonder?” Rena proposed.

“You’re talking my language, Rena,” Keiichi replied eagerly, “How would we?”

“Like, whoever brings the best item to the picnic wins, or something, something,” Rena trailed off, “I didn’t think that far ahead, unfortunately…”

“Let’s break into teams!” Satoko chimed in, “Whichever group brings the best food gets to decide what game we play next!”

“Good plan,” Keiichi nodded, “Rena, will you be on my team? Cilan, you too?”

“I’ll take Rika, of course!” Satoko grabbed Rika by the hand.

“Ash, will you be on our team, too?” Rika turned to face him, “Mii, we can catch up that way!”

“Iris can go with me,” Mion asserted, “I can show her around town in the meantime, it’ll be a high-level, premium tour!”

After some brief consolidation and conversing among the group, they split into three factions; Mion and Iris, Keiichi with Cilan and Rena, and Satoko with Rika and Ash. After grabbing their bikes, they disbanded and hurried to make it back to Hinamizawa.

Satoko was biking ahead, determined to cook up something spectacular for the picnic, while Ash walked beside Rika with her bike. They were not speaking, and the silence made Ash feel incredibly awkward. He wasn't sure what to say or how to speak to her, or if he should ask her about his dream. He remembered her being a shrine priestess, so maybe she knew how to decipher those kinds of things. "Um, it's been a really long time."

"It has." Rika replied merrily, "It's been a long, long time, Ash."

“It’s nice to...to be back,” Ash continued, “I feel like I was last here a thousand years ago or something.”

“A thousand years…” Rika muttered.

Ash wracked his brain for a way to casually slide his question into the conversation. “A-Ah, actually I thought about coming here because I had a dream about Hinamizawa, you know?”

“Really?” the young girl kept her gaze forward but her tone betrayed her interest.

“Like...a really, really weird dream. It was like I was really there,” Ash chuckled nervously. “Rika, have you ever had a dream that felt way too real?”

She didn't answer immediately, continuing to walk beside him with her hands clasped firmly on her bike’s handles. Her dress fluttered at her knees, and at first Ash thought she didn't hear him. He opened his mouth to repeat himself, "H-hey-"

He was stopped when Rika intercepted his path and grasped his shoulder firmly with one arm. Her bike toppled over and fell with a clang, but Rika paid no mind to it, her focus solely on the confused Ash, who felt his heart squeeze with anxiety at her gaze. Her amethyst eyes were burning with an indescribable intensity, her brows dipping into a stony, serious expression.

"You had a dream about a meteor, right?" Rika asked, her voice sounding tight.

"U-uh...y-yeah, how did you…" Ash jolted from her inquiry, "You couldn’t have known that, it was my dream. It was a dream, right...?"

"No," the answer’s finality made Ash’s whole body freeze.

Rika looked over her shoulder cautiously, making sure Satoko hadn't noticed their sudden stop, and turned back to face him with her harsh stare, "It was a prophetic vision we shared, although I'm not sure why…"

"Wh...huh?" Ash felt overwhelmed with this information, "You saw it?! Is something bad gonna happen to Hinamizawa?”

Silence. Around them, the trees rustled from the hot summer breeze, and birds chirped merrily in their boughs. These noises felt amplified from Rika’s lack of a reply. She looked downwards for a split second, and in that split second her face became etched with a sorrowful expression, one that was so dark and somber it made Ash hold his breath. He reached out to her hesitantly, afraid that touching her would shatter her into one thousand pieces like a sheet of glass if he wasn’t too careful. He didn’t even know if he should speak. “R-Rika…”

She looked back up at him, and she gave a smile as bright as the afternoon sun. “I think we should talk about this later! Satoko is going to leave us behind if we don’t hurry!”

Before Ash could protest, Rika released him and skipped ahead, her voice singsongy, "Mii! Let's catch up, sir, come on!"

_ Did I...imagine that? _ It had only been for a heartbeat, but it felt like the longest heartbeat in the world. Her sudden lackadaisical attitude made Ash's blood run cold. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly felt very, very scared.

_ “There was happiness before. There is happiness for now. There will be terror in the future. It beckons at the horizon, and you have no choice but to heed its call. When They Cry, Intersection Chapter, Part Three: Augury. Do you believe it?” _


	3. Augury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Happy late Watanagashi (by a whole month........I wanted to post this on the day but I didn't like a fool......)
> 
> This chapter was done like a month ago, I just kept going back and refining it. I wanted to make Cilan's character more accurate because I wrote him too meek in the first draft lol. The challenge was to make this was engaging as possible while feeding the reader information they most likely already know. I hope I was able to achieve that!
> 
> Anyways! Here is the next chapter. I "westernized" the suffixes to make sense in the story. "Oyashiro-sama" became "Lord Oyashiro", and "Takano-san" became "Ms. Takano" (I felt "Miss" might've caused her to come off as her early twenties and not her mid thirties rofl). The first half is suspenseful and the second half is a fun breather! Chapter 4 is the festival chapter, hopefully I can update by August or September.

Cilan leaned against the countertop as Rena and Keiichi spoke to the hostess at Okinomiyo’s local cafe, Angel Mort. They were picking up some desserts for the group picnic later that day. It had been Keiichi’s idea, initially wanting to get to the meeting spot as fast as possible. “It’ll save us time if we pick something up here and then hurry to Hinamizawa,” Keiichi claimed, “It’ll take more time to go back to my or Rena’s place and try to cook something.”

“You probably wouldn’t cook anything, Keiichi,” Rena giggled.

“Oh, hush up, will ya!” Keiichi had snarled back, although the noise was edged with playfulness, “Men aren’t naturally predisposed to knowing how to cook anything!”

“A-Actually, I know how to cook,” Cilan had added, “I mean, I can cook more Western food than I can Japanese food for sure, but I could figure it out one way or another. I don’t think it would be too difficult.”

“Waa?! _You_ can?” Keiichi’s tone had been of astonishment, “Damn! I guess I really am just the crummiest cook there is…”

After a few bouts of laughter, they ultimately ended up deciding to pick up desserts first and, if there was time, hurry to Keiichi’s (he argued he had the bigger kitchen) and try to whip up some simple meat-and-rice dish. Rena seemed very excited to teach Cilan how to use a rice cooker, and was blushing at the thought going “Hau, hau, so kyuuuute…”

Cilan had not stopped smiling since he had been introduced. They emanated such a positive energy, it made him feel immediately comfortable. Watching Rena and Keiichi banter reminded Cilan of warmth, companionship, and his siblings at home. Were they keeping up with the restaurant while he was there? Cilan felt guilty asking them to cover his shifts for the month. _I hope Chili remembers to keep his cool with customers, and that Cress remembers to not be rude…. I have an anxious flavor in my mouth, but I should know to trust them, right?_

“Here you go!” One of the waitresses came up to the group holding a box, “This is what you ordered, right?”

Keiichi opened the box to check, “Yes! That is it exactly, thank you so much!”

She smiled warmly, “No problem! Have fun at your picnic!”

“Hauu, they’re so cute, I want the pink one,” Rena whimpered, “Hauuu…”

“If you want to claim that now, I’ll claim the chocolate one!” Keiichi declared, turning to Cilan, “What about you Cilan?”

“Um, it’s okay, I’ll let everyone else choose first,” the younger boy smiled, “I don’t have a particular preference, all tastes are considered equal to me.”

“Aw, you’re a true gentleman, huh? You’re making me feel bad!” Keiichi laughed heartily and patted Cilan on the shoulder. 

He continued laughing as they walked out, and Cilan decided he liked the sound of it. Rena was also giggling, making remarks about Keiichi’s uninspired pick of chocolate (“Any girl should know that a man loves the classics the best!” Keiichi retorted), and the scene delivered contentment on Cilan’s tongue. He was happy they were so nice. He was excited for the picnic and hoped that it would be fun. He wondered if Mion and the other two girls, he couldn’t recall their names, were just as friendly. Maybe─

“Eek! Watch out!”

Cilan felt himself trip over someone and grunted, stumbling onto the ground. Embarrassed, he hastily got up, dusting off his pants. When he looked up he saw a woman, clutching a journal close to her chest. She was much older than him, with long blonde hair falling onto her shoulders. Immediately Cilan clasped his hands together and bowed in apology.

“A-Ah, ma’am I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going!” he cried out.

She chuckled, “Oh sweetie, you don’t have to feel so bad! You’re bowing too deeply for a simple mistake, it’s alright. You just tripped over my shoe, and what’s a little dirt, anyways? I’m washable, after all.”

When she said this she laughed, although Cilan noted her laugh wasn’t pleasant like Keiichi’s or Rena’s. It had a shrill tone and it made Cilan feel a little nervous. 

“Good afternoon Ms. Takano!” Rena greeted her enthusiastically, “I hope you’re doing well, doing well!”

“Indeed I am.” Ms. Takano replied, “Who are these two handsome boys you’ve got at your disposal? It must be nice to be so well liked!”

Rena made a noise and her face went completely red, and Keiichi jumped to the defensive with his face matching hers, “H-Hey! It’s not like that! We were picking up some desserts for a picnic!”

“Oh, is it a double date, then?” Ms. Takano kept going, seeming amused with the twosome’s flustered behavior, “Who’s the missing lady? Is she waiting all by herself?”

“No, goodness, Ms. Takano, you’re too funny!” Rena waved her hand in front of her face, trying to bring the hue down, “We’re meeting with the club! Like Mion and Satoko and Rika… and more!”

Ms. Takano laughed again. “Oh, that’s rather fun, I hope the food is good.”

“This is Keiichi, by the way,” Rena jumped to introductions, “And this is Cilan! He’s from America, he’s visiting with friends!”

“Hi Ms. Takano,” Keiichi flashed a smile, “I think I’ve heard some stuff about you, you work at the clinic right?”

“Indeed I do! I’m taking a quick break before I head back,” Ms. Takano smiled, but there was little warmth behind it, "I was on my way to the library to work on my research."

"Oh! Like the occult stuff? I'm pretty sure Mion's mentioned it to me before," Rena tilted his head curiously.

Ms. Takano nodded in affirmative, “I suppose you could call it ‘occult stuff’... If we were to be more specific, I am investigating the events of tonight’s Cotton Drifting Festival and it’s ‘occult stuff’. You _have_ heard the stories? About the annual casualties?”

_Huh?_ “C-Casualties?” Cilan asked, “L-Like accidents? Did someone get hurt?”

“No,” Ms. Takano’s grin got a little more sinister, “One person dies. One person goes missing. Sometimes it’s more extreme than that, but loosely, that is the tradition.”

Cilan felt his heart beat a little faster. She said it so calmly, casually, as if she was just saying what she had eaten for dinner last night, or remarking on the weather, instead of uttering a terrible proclamation. He slowly brought his arms close to his body and allowed himself to shudder. 

“Yikes…” Keiichi whispered.

“Allegedly, the story goes that they get abducted by the demons of the village, or ‘demoned away’. Isn’t that dreadful?” Ms. Takano’s eager tone suggested otherwise, “And every year, the people who get abducted or possessed, however you see it… they have one thing in common. They’re ‘enemies’ of the village, the ones who supported the dam project.”

“The dam?” Keiichi echoed. “What dam?”

Cilan shared the sentiment. He didn’t see or hear of any dam nearby. He looked around, squinting his eyes for one perhaps tucked away in the hills or houses. 

“Ooh, Rena knows!” Rena chirped, “About five years ago, they tried to build a dam that was going to put all of Hinamizawa underwater! The villagers protested for a long time to prevent it from happening, until the project finally got canceled.”

“Indeed,” Ms. Takano nodded, “The Cotton Drifting Festival was held after, as a thanks to the god Oyashiro.”

“That sounds neat.” Keiichi remarked.

“Lord Oyashiro’s wrath regarding the dam was not quite appeased, however,” Ms. Takano lowered her voice to almost a whisper, and stepped closer, “There was a little... incident among the dam workers. There was a fight, violence broke out, it was horrible. One of them was murdered, and his body was cut up into pieces, which were divided up among the dam workers to go hide…someone ran off with his right arm and vanished into thin air...”

Cilan felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge. _Cut up into...pieces...?_ It sounded horrendously gruesome, almost like something straight out of a horror movie. He exchanged a look of shock with Keiichi, who was balling up his fists in disbelief. Rena was staring intensely at the ground, looking extremely uncomfortable. Cilan wondered if she had already heard about this, because she didn’t seem as caught off guard as he and Keiichi were.

Ms. Takano looked to the side thoughtfully, whispering ominously. “That was the start of the curse of Oyashiro. Those who did not stand for Hinamizawa were his enemy…If you supported the dam or supported others who did, you were ostracized for the most part...”

“It hasn’t been like that for a while now,” Rena spoke up softly, “Many of the villagers have let go of old grudges, and Lord Oyashiro is probably appeased. There is no one left who opposed the dam, really.”

“But if no one dies and vanishes this year, who will believe he’s real?” Ms. Takano replied. “Someone has died every year and someone has disappeared every year, without fail. What makes this year’s festival different from the others? Can a curse differentiate between changing times? Or does it just act instinctively, like geese flying south for the winter every year?”

Cilan didn’t know what to say. He didn’t believe in curses, or the supernatural. He always sought to find the logical and solid solution in every situation, so this concept of an angry god’s hex on village traitors seemed a little far-fetched to him. “It could be just a coincidence,” he remarked, “Maybe there were other factors that caused those people to vanish or d-die…” 

“Could be!” Ms. Takano’s tone was micheavous, “Coincidence? Maybe. Curse? Also maybe. It’s up to what you wish to believe, nothing is certain. What I do know is certain is if nobody were to go missing or die, there would be no curse, and no reason to keep the villagers in line. The god’s grip on the village goes limp, and loyalty becomes a meaningless word.”

“Wait a minute. You’re implying a third option,” Cilan looked her straight in the eyes, “You’re also trying to imply… th-that there’s a possibility of...of…”

“Of what?” she inquired.

Cilan gulped, keeping his gaze steady with hers, “You’re trying to say that you think this is… that this curse is all being done by… by a _person_ , right?”

Ms. Takano said nothing, just continued to meet Cilan’s gaze wordlessly. He looked away, hearing Keiichi suck in a breath next to him. The idea just seemed wrong. It hinted at a great evil living within the seemingly peaceful town of Hinamizawa. It changed it from a victim to a perpetrator, from innocent to guilty of unspeakable crimes. Cilan could not comprehend the idea of someone with vengeance buried so deep in their heart, they would snuff out the people of their village at their own discretion.

“That’s too crazy...” Keiichi muttered.

“You can’t deny Lord Oyashiro like that…” Rena whispered, “It’s… wrong…”

“I don’t think I can agree with your theory, Ms. Takano.” Cilan cleared his throat. “I know that it can be easy to reduce something like this into something extreme, but there is a whiff of disparity in your conclusion. I don’t think it’s possible for someone to get away with...with what is basically murder or kidnapping four years in a row without getting caught.”

“You’re thinking like a detective!” Ms. Takano smirked, “That is very impressive. You should consider that as a career in the future, you would succeed in that field for sure.”

“No, really. I genuinely don’t think it’s possible.” Cilan felt like she was being condescending with him, “Do you know something else we don’t?”

“Maybe…” Ms. Takano glanced over her shoulder, before she leaned in really close to the three teenagers. “What if it’s a _group_ of people? People who have the power to cover up crimes like this like it was child’s play? Religious fanatics that live in the town, collaborating on the perfect crime...”

“I see.” Cilan bit his lip, and started to feel scared as she poked holes in his sound argument. “But even more power than police, or a curious bystander? No witnesses? Anything?”

“Who knows! Think of it this way. If they get caught, then there is no curse after all, right?” 

“Right…”

“No curse means no Oyashiro. Nobody wants people to doubt him. There is no way to tell how many people in this village are devoted to Oyashiro to the point of misdeed. It could be one. It could be...five. It could even be twenty. Or maybe the whole village.”

“That’s so sick to say…” Keiichi seemed upset. “Everyone… everyone in this village is so nice and kind, I know they would never do anything to hurt each other! It’s… impossible. I don’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

“The Three Great Families certainly could have some connection, right? Not all of them, maybe. Maybe just a few, just enough to exert their authority to cover up these casualties. Enough to strike fear into the very heart of Hinamizawa. Enough to build curse on its foundation.”

“The...Three Great Families…?” Cilan murmured. “Like, are they in charge of the town?”

“More or less, yes. Your little friend Mion, she’s a Sonozaki child. She too is of the Great Families, yes?”

“W-Wait, no, I’m not about to accuse Mion of something like this.” Keiichi spoke up, raising his voice. “I know her, she’s my best friend, she wouldn’t know anything about this!”

“Keiichi, please keep your voice down,” Rena said desperately, “Rena is nervous, nervous…”

Cilan was nervous too. He didn’t like what Ms. Takano was implying. She sure seemed to like doing that, implying things and taking her time to pull them into her fantasies of violence and conspiracy. With his lack of knowledge on the subject, it was difficult to tell her if she was wrong or right. It was confusing to him. 

“The Three Great Families have ancient connections to Hinamizawa, back to when it was called Onigafuchi...a demon infested swamp.” Takano continued, and Cilan was unsure whether to respect or fear her boldness on such a topic. “The myths of long ago say Lord Oyashiro was a bloodthirsty god who demanded human sacrifices. His wrath would be incited if there was no offering to him...or so the story goes.”

She was letting her words marinate in the air on purpose. The silence was tactfully chosen. Cilan felt himself awash with nausea when he realized what she was saying. _She’s saying that… that these religious fanatics, who may or may not be these Three Great Families, are not only performing these crimes to make the villagers afraid of speaking out against this god Oyashiro, but because they_ themselves _are afraid of Oyashiro._ Cilan decided this time not to say it out loud. He felt like his thoughts would only further the already unpleasant aroma sinking in around them.

He felt Rena grab his hand. “H-Hey, we’re going to be late to our picnic and we won’t have enough food!” the older girl gave a fake-sounding laugh. “Let’s go to Keiichi’s and see what we can make, Rena can show you how to make _yaki-meshi._ ”

“Alright.” Cilan could see the desperation in her face. “That’s true. We should get going…”

“Um, it was nice meeting you, Ms. Takano!” Keiichi flashed a smile in an attempt to diffuse the awkward citation. “Thank you for the… interesting information! I hope your occult research goes well today.”

“Oh, it’s nothing really.” Ms Takano was unfazed. “I’m sorry if I offended anybody. I just find this subject interesting! I forget sometimes how it can be...a bit much to people to listen to.”

Cilan could argue it was more than a bit much. He felt nauseous from the incessant needling of dread of Ms. Takano’s theories. It took all the willpower he could muster to prevent himself from trembling in front of everyone. 

“It’s fine, let’s hurry before Mion gives us an earful!” Keiichi continued to keep his tone chipper, giving a quick bow before he turned to leave. “Bye, Ms. Takano!”

Rena pulled Cilan along with him, but before Cilan could follow her lead he felt a light hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Ms. Takano, seeming to have more to say.

“S-Sorry, I really don’t want to leave my friends waiting…” he tried to speak but she started quickly whispering to him.

“You're a foreigner, isn't that right? That puts you in danger.” her face was stoney, more serious than he had ever seen it. “We should talk more… I have lots more to tell you, if you find me at the festival tonight you should come over and I can further explain myself, okay?"

Cilan said nothing, only jolting back as Rena quickly yanked him away. His mind was racing like a rat running in terror from an approaching feline. _I’m in danger? For being an outsider? But why? I just… I don’t understand…_

“Cilan, let’s hurry, hurry!” Rena chirped, “Bye Ms. Takano, we’ll see you soon!”

As he caught up to Keiichi with Rena, he couldn’t help but look over at Ms. Takano again. She was standing, smiling at nothing, but he knew she was looking at him. It made him shudder, and this time he did not attempt to match her gaze. Instead he looked away and tried to push the thoughts of sacrifice and blood-stained altars out of his mind. 

* * *

“Wow! You made all that? That looks absolutely delicious!”

Mion puffed her chest up proudly, “Iris and I threw it together when we got back to my place. We found some leftovers from some meeting a few days ago and decided to give it more flare!”

Iris felt herself beaming at Satoko’s compliment, “Thank you, Satoko! It was a team effort, your food looks really good too!”

They were sprawled on a picnic blanket, with Mion on Iris’s right and Satoko on her left. Rika and Ash were sitting cross-legged in front of them, and their meals were all placed neatly in front of them. The smell of miso soup with sticky white rice and green bean sides was divine. Iris had not had much Japanese food in her life, and she was eager to try it today.

Her and Mion had taken great pleasure in spicing up the leftover curry rice, literally. Mion has mischievously dribbled hot sauce over the top of it before they headed back out, claiming, “This will sure give ‘em a run for their money!” Iris found herself nodding in agreement with this; she liked how loud and harsh Mion was. Iris found the older girl intriguing to watch and observe.

“Where the hell is Keiichi?” Satoko grumbled, rolling her eyes, “I bet he accidently burned down his whole kitchen, we all know he can’t cook.”

“Mii, but we do know Rena can!” Rika replied, “I’m sure she will keep Keiichi’s house from burning down.”

Satoko scoffed, “Doubt it.”

“I _heard_ that!”

Satoko yelped as Keiichi leapt from behind her and started aggressively rubbing her head with his fist. Rena and Cilan were standing nearby, Rena holding a white box labeled _ANGEL MORT_ and Cilan holding a container with what she assumed was food.

“H-Hey! Ow! Cut it out!” Satoko wailed.

“Try to slam me for my cooking again, Satoko!” Keiichi barked, “I dare you! I double dare you!”

“She doesn’t have to,” Rena teased, “Rena and Cilan did most of the work, anyways!”

“W-Well...I was there for s-support!” Keiichi spluttered, releasing Satoko from his grasp.

“Rena was impressed with Cilan’s cooking abilities,” Rena continued, ignoring Keiichi’s flustered retorts, “He might even be better than Rena, better than Rena!”

Cilan waved his hand, face flushed, “I-It’s not that big of a deal! You had to teach me how to do a lot of it, anyways...”

“Cilan cooks at home with his brothers and aunt!” Iris jumped in, “He’s just being humble, he’s the best cook that I know of, for sure!”

Mion raised her eyebrow, ‘“Oh-ho-ho, a real-life professional chef, are we?”

“I-It’s not like that!” Cilan’s face was getting more pink from the attention, “My family─we own a restaurant and my brothers and I help out and stuff! Nothing professional. But I _will_ say I can cook, I do it as a hobby.”

Mion smiled lopsidedly, “Alright, kid, whatever you say. Lay your goods down so we can properly judge it!”

Cilan nodded and carefully sat down in between Keiichi and Rena. He was glowing with pride as he set the container down, as if he was handling a baby or delicate china. Iris knew cooking was Cilan’s element, and whether he was willing to admit it or not, his skills were matched by none she knew. She looked at Mion, but the other girl was only more thrilled than she had been before. _Maybe the idea of competition is something Mion likes a lot,_ Iris contemplated.

Mion arranged for everyone to sit in a circle with their food sitting in the center. She was trying to decide on who should be the one to judge the food, “It wouldn’t be fair if we tried our own food, because of course we’re going to believe the thing _we_ made tastes the best,” Mion muttered, “Keiichi, you said you didn’t actually cook, right?”

“I一huh? I mean...I _technically_ just watched,” Keiichi admitted, “I don’t think I did any real cooking…”

Mion grinned, “Oh, perfect then. You can be our honorary judge.”

Keiichi was about to complain but, realizing this exempted him from punishment, hastily agreed. He shifted forward and grabbed his chopsticks, seeming flustered at everyone looking at him. Iris noted the intense expressions everyone bore, minus Ash and Cilan. She felt there was an underlying layer to all this cooking trial. 

With care, Keiichi selected Rika and Satoko’s dish and tried a small piece of it, and then Mion and Iris’s, and then finally Rena and Cilan’s. He seemed to be taking it very seriously, and was not letting any reaction show on his face. This definitely frustrated Mion, who wanted to brag about her and Iris’s creation, but Keiichi slyly insisted that competitor input would make him biased and ruin the entire point of the competition. Iris thought he just secretly liked pissing Mion off.

When Keiichi finally wiped his mouth and crossed his arms, finished with his analysis, a grin was crossing his face. “Just as I thought…” he muttered gleefully.

“What?” Mion was eager to hear the results, “What did you think?”

“They were all good,” Keiichi started, speaking very deliberately, his grin growing deeper as Mion began visibly fuming, “Each dish was crafted with heart, so that makes them all respectful in their own rite.”

“Okay, duh,” Satoko seemed impatient as well, “What else do you have to say besides that lame line?”

“Ah, don’t be too hasty, dear Satoko, let the judge think,” Keiichi chided her before continuing, “I will go from left to right. This one on the far left, it just lacked the careful finishing touches most top-notch chefs would add to their recipes! The miso soup was missing personality, and the rice tasted rather plain. That was Rika, Satoko, and Ash’s.”

“Aw, I guess we didn’t make it this time…” Rika mumbled, but she was smiling from ear to ear in spite of the clear loss, without a hint of surprise or disgruntlement. Iris found that rather odd. _I wonder if she knew they were going to get last all along?_

“The next one,” Keiichi continued, “was full of flavor! It sure packed a mighty fiery punch, full of charisma, and it was shocking to say the least.”

Mion was leaning closer. Iris could tell by his word choice he was talking about their dish. Her heart quivered ever so slightly.

“It set my soul ablaze as it touched my tongue! And my mouth. The spices in the curry rice overwhelmed the meal and drowned out any possibility of experiencing the rest of the rainbow of tastes to the fullest extent. How disappointing…” Keiichi pretending to wipe away a tear. “Mion, I thought you would be better than this…”

“Wait, are you saying it was too spicy for you?” Mion was furious. “That’s so pathetic! You’re not a real man at all!”

Keiichi held a hand up, “Perhaps we shall get an extraneous judge to try your dish again, if you believe the spice level is sufficient?”

“Oh, drop the fake professionalism crap!” Mion snapped, “You’re just trying to sabotage me and Iris’s hard work!”

Iris felt herself glowing with pride at Mion’s statement, “Yeah, we worked really hard on that curry!” she chimed in, defending their meal, “Are you sure it's too spicy for you? Maybe we _should_ have another person’s opinion, _just_ in case…”

“Mii, I’ll try it, I’ll try it!” Rika raised her hand earnestly.

Keiichi moved over so Rika could scramble to sit next to him. She held her chopsticks elegantly, and it reminded Iris of a doll. When Rika finished trying her sample, she seemed delighted, and Iris thought for a moment of relief that Keiichi had been too harsh judging her and Mion’s spicy creation.

To her dismay, Rika hummed aloud and said, “Mii. It’s very spicy! It’s like Mion poured a whole bottle of tabasco inside of it.”

“Only half!” Mion objected, “Come on Rika, I thought you were on our side…”

“Then it’s settled!” Keiichi grinned mischievously, “Your meal ranks the lowly rung of second place.” 

Mion stuck her tongue out at him and sighed, defeated. Iris should have felt crestfallen, but instead she felt exhilarated from the competition. She was smiling, and when her eyes met Mion’s, the other girl exchanged the same expression. She, too, was having fun.

“The last meal was Cilan and Rena’s, and I think I must declare it the best one!” Keiichi announced dramatically. “Everything melded together beautifully!”

Satoko narrowed her eyes, “No, that’s wrong. You’re being biased.”

“Nope!” Keiichi flashed the younger girl a bright smile, “That’s what I genuinely believe! It tastes really good, it has Rena’s soft and sweet touches with Cilan’s carefully crafted style!”

Cilan was smiling, his face turning a smidgen pink again, turning to Iris seeming gleeful at the praise. She nodded at him with a smile, and she saw in the corner of her eye Ash giving him a thumbs up. Cilan puffed his chest out a bit, clearly happy.

“I demand to try it for myself!” Mion reached over for her chopsticks for a bite. 

Satoko jumped to her feet, “Yeah! Me too!”

“Mii, Cilan and Rena’s power in the kitchen is unmatched!” Rika chortled.

Iris watched as she got up to join Satoko and Mion in trying Rena and Cilan’s dish, exchanging giggles with Satoko as Mion’s face lit up with surprise when she put a piece of the colorful fried rice in her mouth. Ash was beaming, laughing at Mion’s overblown reaction as she tried to protest the food’s impeccable taste. Rena was giggling too, her hand on Cilan’s shoulders as she praised his good work, and he seemed overjoyed. The scene was overflowing with cheer that lazily floated with the humidity, and Iris was glad that Ash’s old friends were so kind and fun to be around. 

“Alright, fine, I _have_ to admit that this is very good.” Mion said begrudgingly, but there was warmth in her tone, seeming pleased that she was beaten fair and square.

“We worked really hard on it!” Rena said proudly, “I’m glad you like it, Mi!”

Mion extended both her hands to Rena and Cilan, “I concede defeat! I’ll admit you two are the better cooks here.”

Cilan and Rena grasped her hands and shook them. Rena beamed. “I can’t wait to continue this at the festival!”

_The festival…!_ Iris had almost forgotten. Apparently, Mion did too, because she straightened up suddenly with a surprised look on her face.

“Oh crap, I promised my uncle I would help him set up some of the game booths!” she exclaimed nervously, “I gotta go!”

“You’re so irresponsible, Mion.” Keiichi teased, “You’re supposed to be older than me.”

“I was distracted by my demanding club leader duties! You can’t be perfect all the time.” Mion smirked. 

“Oopsies!” Rika stood up, putting her chopsticks down with grace, “I have to go, too! I have to change for the ceremony today. I must have forgotten, too.”

_Rika is a part of the ceremony?_ Iris wondered, intrigued. 

“I’ll walk you over!” Mion turned to Rika, who didn’t seem worried at all, “Sorry guys, we gotta go. Festival starts in an hour! We’ll see you there!”

The two girls hurried down the hill, and Satoko looked down at their picnic blanket miserably. “I bet she timed this on purpose so _we_ would have to put all this away…”

“Not if we eat it all so Mion doesn’t get any!” Keiichi interjected.

“You’re funny, Keiichi, we can’t do that!” Rena chuckled.

“Who says we can’t?” Ash challenged her eagerly, “I _really_ want to eat all this, it smells so good…!”

“You are so rude! Everyone has to have something to eat!” Satoko challenged back.

Watching the group scramble for a verdict made Iris giggle. She was having fun, and with the festival approaching, she felt nothing but positivity and excitement that grew in her chest. _What kinds of fun will we all have at the festival?_ She couldn’t wait. 

_“It is arriving, slowly, lazily, like an autumn leaf carefully spiraling into the dirt. It is arriving, faster, picking up speed, like a snowflake hurtling towards Earth. It is here, blasting with the strength of summer’s heat. You were powerless to stop it. When They Cry, Intersection Chapter, Part Four: Crooked. Do you believe it?”_


	4. Crooked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Back again! Happy September! The first half of this chapter is the festival, the second half is a little more sinister. You'll notice that the curse is a little...different here. (: I'm also going to go back and do some minor tweaking/editing of the earlier chapters (especially chapter 1) because they're a little rougher & more spontaneous than these newer ones.

“Welcome to our annual Cotton Drifting Festival!” Mion’s booming voice rang loudly in the air.

Ash felt overwhelmed with euphoria when they arrived at the scene. A variety of food and game booths were lined up before them, and the smell of spicy pork and hot dogs fills his nose and mouth. There was noise all around them, whether it was people shouting in boisterous conversations or laughing amongst villagers or the sizzling of oil in hot pans. It was as if this was an entirely separate part of the world, where worries evaporated like a puddle in the heat. 

After packing up what remained of the picnic showdown, Ash had convinced the group to make a quick detour to the nearby phone booth at the side of the road. He dialed up his mom, informing her of the festival, and that he may stay out late, even overnight if necessary. His mother was hesitant, reluctant to let a boy so young be out after dark, but after some pushing and pleading she agreed, but firmly reminded him to stick close to the group at all times. She was worried about his safety, as any mother would, but Ash couldn’t match her caution. He felt incredibly safe in Hinamizawa with his friends, despite his mother’s concerns.

Ash wasn’t worrying much about Rika’s ominous warning earlier that day either. He hadn’t given much thought to it, as after the initial message of doom she never brought it up again. Ash wondered if she was serious or playing some kind of trick on him.  _ Although Rika was never really the kind of person to make jokes about stuff like that...she seemed really genuine. _

“I’m not winning  _ you _ something, Mion!” Ash was jolted awake by Keiichi’s retort, “You’re going to have to win it yourself if you really want something!”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t  _ really _ do any of the cooking with Rena and Cilan?” Mion taunted. “Aren’t you going to have to make up for your lack of kitchen skills?”

“I mean, yeah, but I’m not giving whatever I win to  _ you. _ I’ll give it to Rena, because she’s nice, and isn't trying to bully me into giving up my prize!”

“E-Eh? That’s so rude! I  _ am _ a lady, you know!”

Ash had decided he liked Keiichi. His status as a newcomer made Ash feel less awkward and out of place with his own sudden return to Hinamizawa. He watched as Keiichi lunged for the nearest game, a shooting gallery, and Mion rushed over to wrestle the toy gun out of his hand. 

"They've started playing games haven't they?"

Ash heard Rika mutter behind him. He hadn't seen her earlier, so he whipped around and was stunned when he saw she was wearing a different, more traditional outfit than she had before. It was slightly too big, with the red and white folds of her shrine maiden uniform spilling like a waterfall around her arms and legs. She was smiling grimly, and it made Ash confused. He didn't know why she looked so downcast behind her grin. 

"Yea I think we're about to play the games." Ash responded excitedly. "I'm going to get our victory back from cooking earlier, Rika! That's a promise."

Rika's eyes softened as Satoko enthusiastically bounded over to her and pulled her over to the booth where Mion and Keiichi were standing, "Come on! We're not going to lose again!" The blonde girl cried out. "We can't let the others beat us! That would be absolutely absurd!" 

"What's the plan, Mion?" Rena inquired, tilting her head to the side. "Are we going booth by booth?" 

"Absolutely!" Mion declared. "Whoever wins the most prizes wins! Pretty simple, don't you think?"

"Mion, not all the booths have prizes though." Iris pointed out. "There is nothing to win at the food booths, for example."

"Oh, you don't think I have that covered?" Mion jeered. "I got a plan, trust me!"

Iris shrugged her shoulders, "Okay, if you say so."

"Shooting gallery up first!" Keiichi bellowed, pointing one of the toy rifles from the booth up in the air. "Who should go first? Volunteers? Losers? Winners?"

"Losers." Mion stated, pointing mischievously at Ash, then Satoko, and finally Rika. "One of you three has to go first."

Ash leapt forward. "I'll go!" He was keen on proving he was better than last place to the club. He may have struggled with cooking, and may have been responsible for the flavorless rice, but that didn't mean he could fail at a carnival game like this!

"Alright! Battle of the Eight Evils starts, now!" Mion shouted. "Ash, go!"

Ash surveyed the prizes. He could see different sized toys lined up on wooden shelves, each with a different value in points labeled underneath it in messy scrawl.  _ If I want a comeback, I gotta get the biggest prize I can find!  _ He thought determinedly.

He felt Rena put a hand on his shoulder. "You only get three shots!" she whispered, “So use them wisely!”

_ Three shots. _ That meant he would have to use all three on his prize of choice, right? That made the most sense to Ash.

"Yeah Ash! You can do it!" Iris cheered.

“Don’t get too cocky, Ash!” Cilan interjected.

He eyed a big bear in the center, labeled with a whopping 1000 points tied to it.  _ That's it! _ He aimed the toy rifles confidently. "I'm going to make my shot!" He yelled energetically and pulled the trigger three times in succession.

_ Pop! Pop! Pop!  _ To Ash's dismay, the ammunition that the toy rifles used were small foam pellets that did nothing like he was envisioning. He thought it would be three hard hits and victory would be his, and the bear would drop like a stone to the floor. Instead, he watched in horror as the bear did not even budge from its location on the shelf.

"What?!" He dropped the rifle to the ground, stunned. "It didn't even do anything!" 

Cilan gave a light, sympathetic chuckle. "I guess toy rifles aren't meant to have the same strength as real rifles…" 

Ash's head drooped with shame. "Aw man...you gotta be kidding me…!"

Meanwhile, Satoko was cackling, tears running out of her eyes from the wicked laughter. "Oh my! I would've thought such an awful performance would have come from Keiichi, not from you! You really are  _ quite _ out of practice Ash!"

Humiliated, Ash bent over and picked up the rifle, passing it off to Satoko. "Oh yeah?" He challenged her. "I'd like to see you do better!" 

"Easy!" Satoko smirked, and sauntered over to the booth with poise. She aimed and fired— _ Pop!— _ and one of the smaller prizes tumbled down, and she went again— _ Pop! Pop! _ —and snagged another small one with her remaining two. 

Iris whistled, impressed, and Rena clapped her hands together in support.  _ Wait, so instead of going for the big one she just went for the small ones? Why? _

"The goal is to not get last place." Rika spoke up beside him. "As long as you hit something, you're going to get out of the penalty."

The realization dawned on him. "Ah! Wait, that means…!"

"You're last place because you didn't hit anything." Rika grinned. "You set a low standard so now Satoko and I can avoid losing. Thank you, Ash!" 

Her cutesy demeanor did not take away from the shocking revelation that Ash was, in fact, already losing. He watched her take the rifle from Satoko and fire, taking one small prize and missing her remaining two shots.  _ I thought about this all wrong!  _ Ash thought hopelessly.  _ I'm already behind! I have to get something in the other booths or else I get the penalty!  _

_ But what did she mean by penalty? _

Ash crossed his arms and watched as Satoko and Rika exchanged triumphant expressions, as Mion was showing Iris how to use the rifle.  _ I know there would be penalties for losing, because Rika said so...why can't I remember what that means? _

The gap in Ash's memory was growing ever more apparent the longer he stayed in Hinamizawa. It was almost ridiculous how much he couldn't remember, and how there wasn't even a comforting presence of deja vu or a flicker of a flashback. It was as if he was never actually here in the first place, like he was a stranger.  _ I know I  _ did  _ live here as a kid, though. There are photos and stories my mom has...so it definitely happened. But why is it so hard to recall anything? _ The sights and sounds and smells around him should have been at least a tiny bit familiar to him right? But all he could recall was the school fairs from New York, nothing from Japan, let alone Hinamizawa. 

"Hey! That's cheating! What do you think you're doing?!"

Keiichi's holler brought Ash back. Iris was holding her prize, a sizable stuffed dragon, and Mion was chortling as her four prizes plummeted to the floor.

"It's anything to win, Keiichi!" Rena was saying, her voice sweet and contrasting to Keiichi's harsh accusations. "Mion just decided to use the whole booth to her advantage. Rena thinks it's very clever of Mion!"

"Knowing the shelf walls of the booth were meant to be temporary translates into their instability, meaning she could have more of an impact if she used her shots to shake the whole shelf instead of taking prizes one by one…" Cilan's eyebrows were raised in deep interest. "What an unexpected ingredient to Mion's victory stew!"

"And  _ my _ stew will be first prize!" Mion added, sticking her tongue out at Keiichi. 

"Dammit!" Keiichi swore, snatching the rifle out of her hands. "I'll beat you so hard, you'll wish you never had even come to this Cotton Festival!"

_ Click. Flash! _

The snap of a camera shutter and the flash of a photo being taken made everyone jump, and Ash whirled around to see an older man standing with a camera. His expression seemed sheepish as he looked at the curious glances the group was giving him. He didn’t look familiar to Ash at all.  _ Who is this guy? _

The man laughed nervously. "Hah...sorry, it just seemed like an amusing photo, Keiichi's expression was priceless."

"Hau, hau, I wanna see Keiichi's kyute expression, hauuu…" Rena started grabbing at Keiichi's face, much to Keiichi's embarrassment.

"Hey, Mr. Tomitake! You're still around?" Mion's tone was friendly, "I'm glad you could make it to the festival."

"Hello, Mr. Tomitake!” Satoko waved. “I presume you’re here to take photos for your marvelous debut?”

Mr. Tomitake laughed again, seeming embarrassed. “Er, I don’t know if it’ll be marvelous, I doubt any photographer’s first showing is…”

“You haven’t met Ash, have you, have you?” Rena chimed in, motioning Tomitake to come forward, “We have new friends we want to introduce to you!”

After some clumsy introductions, Ash was able to learn who this mysterious man was. He was Mr. Jirou Tomitake, a freelance photographer who made his way to Hinamizawa a few times a year out of Tokyo to take photos of nature, primarily birds. This time he was here to capture the events of the town’s Cotton Drifting Festival for a local magazine. The group welcomed him warmly, which made Ash believe he wasn’t a bad person. It was difficult to believe Mr. Tomitake could be any kind of bad. 

“You wanna show Mr. Tomitake your redeeming shot, Kei?” Mion teased, poking the older boy with her elbow.

“Redeeming? Hah!” Keiichi scoffed. “It’ll be such a good shot, it’ll redeem every time I’ve failed in this club! You won’t believe it!”

He lunged forward and picked up the toy rifle with gusto. Ash admired his cocky attitude, and wished he hadn’t gone first so he could have shown Keiichi how cool he was, too. 

_ Pop! _ Keiichi fired his first shot and a small prize fell to its demise.

“Shit!” Keiichi cursed. “I wanted to take down two…!”

“Two?” Mr. Tomitake echoed. “Why two? Don’t you just need one prize to win?”

“The club rules says most prizes wins,” Keiichi explained, seeming distracted, eying the stand purposefully trying to find a better angle to shoot, “So far that number is four. If I only get one prize a shot, I can’t get first!”

“Hmm…” Mr. Tomitake seemed deep in thought. “What other rules do you have to follow?”

“You can do most anything to win!” Satoko interjected proudly. 

“I see...in that case, let me be your plus one for this game!” Mr. Tomitake declared, taking a step forward.

“Wait, what?” Mion was taken aback. “You can’t add another person!”

“Mr. Tomitake isn’t a part of the club, sir.” Rika pointed out. “It’s not like Keiichi’s adding another team member, meep!”

“What do you mean?” Iris asked. “But Mr. Tomitake is still a person, so that should be cheating, right?

“Mii, well, if we think of this like a game, Mr. Tomitake can be more like...a boost, or an item rather than a teammate!”

Ash realized what Rika was saying. “So, since Tomitake isn’t a member of the club, it doesn’t count as another person, more like...uh, like adding a weapon to your character to make them stronger, right?”

“Yeah!” Rika nodded cheerfully. 

Keiichi pumped his fists excitedly. “Alright! That sounds fair to me!”

Mr. Tomitake stood next to Keiichi and took a second toy rifle that was lying dejected on its stand. The two exchanged a look of understanding and aimed their guns.

“Three, two, one, go!” Keiichi counted off and fired his remaining two shots, and Mr. Tomitake fired off his shots. The popping sounds were overlapping each other and it made Ash feel dizzy.

Iris's eyes went wide, impressed, as a whooping six prizes plopped to the floor. “You sure got a lot! I guess it helps to have another person help. I mean, an accessory, if we’re still going with that.”

It was a scene of jubilation. Keiichi was thanking Mr. Tomitake profusely and Rena was fired up, seeming only to have eyes for the enormous teddy bear that snubbed Ash. There was something about its dopey smile that made Rena want to "take it home". By some miracle, she managed to get it herself, much to Ash's shock ("Nothing can stop Rena when she's in her kyute mode…" Mion had whispered to him) and Cilan managed to snag something as well. It was a success, and even if Ash had gotten last place, he was determined to make it up during their other games throughout the night. 

His face hurt from smiling so much as the group dove headfirst into their next game. Everyone was getting along, and Cilan and Iris seemed much more at ease as they joked with the group. His heart felt as light as a feather. Even if he couldn’t remember the happy times he had with the club members in the past, he knew tonight’s joy would be unforgettable. 

Ash was laughing so much he almost forgot that the impending disaster was looming over him and his friends, but he didn’t have to think about it right now, not while he was having such a good time reuniting with his old friends, right? 

* * *

“I don’t think she could have gone very far…” Keiichi muttered. “She didn’t specify where she was going to meet with you?”

Cilan shook his head numbly, quickening his pace to keep up with Keiichi’s long strides. In spite of the fun he had been having with the group, a nagging worry poked and prodded his brain, a worry about Takano's parting words with him. _ As a foreigner _ ... _ she thinks I could be in danger. But how does it connect to the bizarre stories she was telling earlier today? _ He had approached Keiichi several minutes ago about Ms. Takano’s admonition from earlier that day, which Keiichi had hesitated to believe at first.

“I don’t know...she said a lot of crazy things today. She could’ve just been messing with you, she’s a little...strange like that. Are you sure you want to hear her say more?” he asked, perplexed.

Cilan couldn’t find the words to explain the uproar their conversation in front of the cafe had caused in his head. He felt ensnared in it, pulled towards it, like a helpless fish towards the alluring light of an angler fish. He had so many questions to ask about the stories Ms. Takano was telling, and wanted to know about their validity.  _ Why does she think its a curse or a crime? How much more is there to this story?  _ He was obsessing with the mystery and above all, the truth. He had grown up reading detective novels, after all, and one thing he learned from them was that there was no such thing as an unsolvable mystery. He had to know more. 

“There’s just...I need to talk to her again to know what this...this curse actually is.” Cilan furrowed his brow. “It’s just bothering me. I’m not an enemy to Hinamizawa, I’m just an outsider...so why am I in danger? Why would she say something like that to me?”

Keiichi said nothing for a few seconds, looking at Cilan’s earnest expression, before nodding slowly. “Yeah it’s...kind of weird she would say that. I’ll admit, what she said bothered me a lot, too. I had heard rumors about the dam war and the dismembered arm, but I never heard about a curse.”

And thus, the two boys agreed to seek her out and snuck away when they caught a chance, but instead they succeeded in getting themselves lost. They were following the river, hoping they could catch her before she left. Cilan was close to giving up.

“Maybe she left early or something.” he muttered. “We’re wasting our time…”

“No! She couldn’t have.” Keiichi said determinedly. “She’s gotta be somewhere around here…”

Crickets chirped impishly in the bushes, leading the symphony of a humid summer night. The river still had bits of white cotton swirling in its currents, leftover from the closing of the ceremony. Cilan vaguely remembered its purpose.  _ To take away the years' sins or something...the cotton is meant to carry the burden of our mistakes, what pressure to put on a small thing...does it carry the crimes of the past years, then? Does the cotton carry away the guilt of murder, so the villagers can wash the blood off their hands again and again? _

He shuddered, looking at his hands as anxiety burned his throat.  _ If it only were that simple... _

“Oh, are you two looking for me?”

Cilan almost jumped straight into the air from the sudden voice.  _ Ms. Takano! _

She was standing a few feet ahead with Mr. Tomitake, her arms crossed over her body and a smile hanging off of her lips. Her stance was relaxed and at ease, just as she had been earlier that day. Mr. Tomitake was also grinning, eyes bright and cheery, seeming to have just finished laughing about something with her. Cilan remembered him from the festival’s shooting booth, and the man gave a friendly wave when he saw the young boys approaching. Cilan and Keiichi waved back. 

“You actually sought me out! I didn’t know you were so head over heels for me.” Ms. Takano giggled, acting oblivious to the real reason why they were there.

“H-Hi...Ms. Takano, we came out here because you mentioned something to Cilan that he wanted to talk to you about,” Keiichi turned to the other boy. “Right?”

“Y-yeah...I’ve just been thinking a lot about our conversation earlier today, and I found it really...interesting.” Cilan kept his tone and diction polite, wanting to mask any nerves he was starting to have. “I wanted to know more about the...I wanted to know the whole story, if that's alright with you.”

“Hm? What story?” Ms . Takano was still acting oblivious, but her smile darkened.

“Hinamizawa and the curse...I mean, if it really is a curse.” Cilan shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling his fingers begin to shake.

“Oh! How interesting.” Ms. Takano beamed. “I guess I could break the curse down to you even more, so you can understand it better.”

“Y-Yeah…”

“You might get scared though,” Ms. Takano warned playfully. “You might regret asking, and I’d feel quite bad if I gave you boys nightmares. Are you sure you want to know more?”

Cilan and Keiichi exchanged looks of discomfort, but nodded anyway. Ms. Takano saw their affirmative answer, took a deep breath, and dove into the story that would turn Cilan’s world upside down.

“As I’ve told you already, after the dam war, a dam worker was murdered, and his body was dismembered into six pieces. One of his killers vanished. The one who took the arm, yes?”

“...Right.” This sounded familiar to Cilan.

“And then there were some...odd events that started happening every year, around the same month, the same day. Someone would go missing, and someone would die. The year after the dam worker incident, there was a man who fell off of a cliff and he drowned, seeming to have hit his head on the way down. Him and his wife had supported the dam, and just days before, his wife had fled back to her parents as a temporary refuge. She allegedly was trying to convince her husband and children to move back with her, and they were all going to reside there permanently...after that fateful day, that was never fully realized. Their dream of a new life died prematurely.”

Cilan felt his heart lurch at the tragic statement.  _ That family...got torn apart... _

“Then, that very night, an electrician whose company funded the dam suddenly went missing out of his own home, and seeing that he left a note it was deemed a suicide. He, too, had faced harassment and threats to himself and his family for which side he foolishly chose in the dam war. Presumably, it was too much for him to handle.”

Keiichi stiffened next to Cilan.

“The next year, the third year of the Cotton Drifting Festival, something else odd happened. The priest of the Furude shrine suddenly died, being labeled as an enemy for being horribly passive during the dam war, and his wife seemed to have drowned herself. As you can guess…”

“Her body was never found…” Cilan finished her sentence, realizing what Ms. Takano was trying to underscore. "I think I remember this from earlier, right? A death and a disappearance…?"

Ms. Takano nodded. “Yes! You’re seeing the pattern emerge, correct? What do you think happened that fourth year, one year ago to today?”

Cilan said nothing, only redirecting his gaze to the ground. He had a pretty good idea of what happened, but felt too scared to voice it. 

“That night, a housewife who was living in Hinamizawa was beaten to death by a drug addict. Her nephew went missing that same day, never to be seen again. Both of them were related to someone who had supported the dam years prior.”

“Awful…” Keiichi whispered.

“And the fifth year...well, that’s tonight, is it not?”

Cilan understood, breathing in deeply to cease his trembling. “The curse...is people die and go missing, because they allegedly offended the town and therefore, their god?” he asked.

“Yes, exactly!  _ That _ is the curse of Lord Oyashiro. Enemies will be brought down in his name, whether he likes it or not!” Mrs. Takano giggled, but Cilan struggled to find what was so funny about it all.

“So the festival...is supposed to be a way to thank Lord Oyashiro, but yet people still get hurt…” Keiichi mumbled. 

“Of course, it could be just a bunch of sad coincidences!” Mr. Tomitake jumped in, seeming concerned by the serious looks on the young boys’ faces. “After all, most of these individuals faced persecution and had their own internal problems we didn’t know about. People like to say it's a curse because it makes it sound more interesting, but in the end it is just a tragic fluke.”

“Don’t take the wind out of my sails!” Ms. Takano gave Mr. Tomitake a playful push. “There’s still so much I haven’t said.”

“Wait, there’s more?” Keiichi asked, confused.

Cilan was confused as well.  _ It’s just people who supported the dam who get damned, right? What more could there be to this mystery…?  _

“The enemies of the town aren’t just those who support the dam.” Ms. Takano looked up at the night sky. “Outsiders and newcomers are seen as enemies too, as the old story goes.”

A cold hand grabbed Cilan’s heart and squeezed it.  _ So Keiichi and Iris and Ash and...me...would be enemies. We’re enemies? How am I an enemy?  _

“Outsiders and newcomers are seen as enemies?” Keiichi echoed. “But why?”

“According to the myth, it was Lord Oyashiro himself who set those rules. He wished for the villagers to live amongst each other only. Thus anyone who left would be cursed by him, and suffer terrible consequences.”

“Consequences?” Cilan whispered. “Wait, you mean…”

“You remember I told you about the man who fell to his doom?” Ms. Takano inquired. “You remember how his wife was living with her parents, urging them all to come with her before that terrible day? Perhaps her leaving was what really triggered her husband’s demise, or it could’ve been their foolish support of the dam. Either way, she paid the price as well. Within the month, before the kids could move in with her, she committed suicide and had apparently attacked her elderly mother with a steak knife. Truly horrific.”

“Oh...Th-That’s…” Cilan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But why?”

“Remember their relative?” Ms. Takano continued her story. “The one who was murdered last year? She had no formal ties to Hinamizawa beyond her marriage. She was an outsider, and did not live in the town for two years before she was slaughtered by the curse. Her offense of Oyashiro ran much deeper on closer inspection!”

So far, Ms. Takano’s idea of an invisible curse snaking its way through Hinamizawa and its residents seemed plausible. Yet Cilan felt resistant.  _ There is no such thing as a curse as far as I’m concerned...so what other explanation could there be… _

“That’s why I wanted to... _ inform _ you.” Ms. Takano gave a bitter smile. “You’re not from here. Maybe you’ll be the ones killed tonight…!”

“You’re scaring them, Miyo!” Mr. Tomitake gave a laugh and patted Cilan and Keiichi on their shoulders. “She’s just messing with you, you both seem to me like fine young gentlemen! I’m sure nobody has a grudge against you, and even if the curse was real, Lord Oyashiro would spare you. He too would see the goodness in your hearts, and your appreciation for Hinamizawa.”

“Th-Thank you, Mr. Tomitake.” Keiichi gave a nervous smile, looking relieved. 

Yet Cilan only felt dread. He stared at the river, its surface flashing warnings to him in the moonlight.  _ Outsiders and those who leave...die of mysterious causes. It could have been accidents...a faulty rail, years of daily harassment making some depressed and unstable, like Mr. Tomitake said. But Ms. Takano is pushing this idea that it's anything but a coincidence. Could those be performed by someone in the background, making sure those who break Oyashiro’s law are punished?  _

He recalled Ms. Takano’s statement from earlier that day. “ _ There is no way to tell how many people in this village are devoted to Oyashiro to the point of misdeed. It could be one. It could be...five. It could even be twenty. Or maybe the whole village. _ ” If there was a whole network of people puppeteering this curse, with enough care and precision, perhaps they could have gotten away with it. The religious fanatics she had spoken of could have orchestrated a suicide, or staged a murder scene that directed blame at someone else. But it seemed too fantastical still, too clean. Too easy. 

“You don’t seem very satisfied, dear.” Ms. Takano addressed Cilan directly. “Is this not enough for you? Would you like to know more?”

“I…” Cilan opened his mouth, struggling to find the words. “I just...don’t believe in that kind of stuff. The supernatural, I mean. It has a...fishy aroma to it, like there are still pieces missing.”

“Pieces missing?” Ms. Takano asked.

“I don’t believe it's a curse. But I'm also having a hard time believing it's on purpose. A lot of it can be excused as coincidences between depressive episodes of those who faced retaliation from betrayed villagers, or natural causes."

"That's true, perhaps." Takano replies thoughtfully. 

"But…" Cilan hesitated, wondering if he should risk voicing his tantalizing curiosity. "If you strongly believe this is the work of these...these fanatics who adore Oyashiro, what is it that makes you feel so certain? There’s got to be more to this, surely, to prove there’s a logical ingredient to this?” Cilan’s heartbeat quickened, and he took a step forward. “You have to know more, right?”

“Maybe” Ms. Takano’s eyes were lighting up with excitement. “I have a scrapbook of  _ all _ of the data I have collected about the curse of Lord Oyashiro. How about I lend it to you? You can get a clearer picture of what you want to believe.”

_ Data? _ He knew her scrapbook would probably be frivolous ghost stories and old legend transcriptions but the word was enticing to him. “Evidence would be nice, yes.” Cilan admitted. 

“I’ll leave it somewhere you can find it, I promise.” Ms. Takano held a hand out, offering to shake on her agreement. “I don’t keep it on me usually, just in case some fanatic labels me as a dangerous individual and...you know. Maybe I’ll be the casualty of the night!”

Her tone was light, as if she was telling a knock-knock joke, but Cilan shuddered at the implication.  _ She really thinks she’s going to get killed for having a scrapbook of her corny occult nonsense? That’s insane... _

Gritting his teeth, Cilan took her hand and shook it. “Okay. Deal. If I see you again, you better show me the whole story.”

“We better get going! I think the festival is just about over. I hope you’re able to get back with Rena and the others.” Mr. Tomitake cut in. “It’s dark now, after all.”

“Oh, right. We should go.” Keiichi gave a wave. “Good night Mr. Tomitake, Ms. Takano. We’ll see you around.”

“Y-yeah...Bye. Thank you for the information.” Cilan awkwardly bowed his head before following Keiichi.

The dread he felt did not go away. It continued to blossom in his heart like a daisy, his thoughts spiraling out of his head,  _ There can’t really be a curse, right? I want to believe these are all tragic coincidences embellished into a “curse”, like Mr. Tomitake said. But how many coincidences does it take before it's no longer a coincidence, but a purposeful event? How many accidents turn a straight and good town like Hinamizawa into one that is crooked and evil one, one that has secrets hidden within the shadows?  _

His biggest worry, however, was the possibility of being killed before he could grasp for any more meaning behind the mystery of Oyashiro’s curse. 

_ “Like a river flows, your mind flows as new information makes itself home like newborn fish. Like a river rushes, your mind rushes to a conclusion of doom and despair. Like a river floods, paranoia overwhelms, and the fish die. When They Cry, Intersection Chapter, Part Five: Eclipse. Do you believe it?” _


End file.
